


A Certain Secret War

by Brosephg



Category: Marvel 616, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun | A Certain Scientific Railgun, Toaru Majutsu no Index | A Certain Magical Index
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Crack, Crack Crossover, Dark Crack, Fluff and Crack, Gen, No Sex, No Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:20:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 40,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27394117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brosephg/pseuds/Brosephg
Summary: Omnipotent Beyonder arrives by mistake in a new multiverse unfamiliar to him. Having grown since his misadventures that lead to the previous Secret Wars, how will this multiverse, and those who find themselves involved with a being of unlimited power be affected? Crackfic.
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This piece was originally posted in multiple parts on another platform, starting on 8/12/2020.
> 
> Preface: this entire story is a joke. It's satire. For the love of God and all that's holy, please, do NOT take anything described or said here seriously. This piece is, more than anything, little more than an exercise in creative writing and an attempt by myself to create something amusing.
> 
> I absolutely DO NOT OWN any characters, settings, or other trademarked properties depicted herein. All characters originating from 'A Certain Magical Index' and 'A Certain Scientific Railgun' are © Kamachi Kazuma and ASCII Media Works. The Beyonder was created by Jim Shooter and Mike Zeck, and is © Marvel Comics and the Disney Corporation. Galactus was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and is © Marvel Comics and the Disney Corporation. The Silver Surfer was created by Jack Kirby and is © Marvel Comics and the Disney Corporation.

"I'm BACK; and not a moment too soon! It has been far too long! Hello, world! Hello…?"

This wasn't right. What was this place? It looked, vaguely, like the planet he'd expected to end up on, when he'd disincorporated and departed from the Beyond. His omniscience was more than enough to rely on, and so he could easily tell that the vast majority of world landmarks and continental masses were nearly identical to that which he'd expected.

Yet, there were obvious disparities. Details that only a being as omnipotent as he would have been capable of discerning.

"Japan exists here?! I sunk that place, back in that… That _other_ multiverse! Unless someone brought it back up from the depths! Reminds me of something Owie would do. But I don't _feel_ him here."

He scratched his chin between his index finger and his thumb, while he floated there on nothing, hovering in mid-air, thousands of meters above the ground. His black Jheri curl was buffeted about by the gale-force winds which, to him, felt like little more than a pleasant spring breeze. Clad in pure, white clothing which clung tightly to his curved, muscled body, with his shirt's collar popped, he came to a final conclusion.

"I must have made a wrong turn somewhere!" He proclaimed, slamming his clenched fist into his free hand's opened palm. "I ended up in some other, different multiverse! What awful luck that is."

Then, a thought crossed his omnipotent mind.

"But… If this is some other multiverse – not _that_ multiverse, or my own Beyond, then… They don't know me here, do they?! That's right! Of course, they don't! I was never here, never introduced myself. I can turn over a new leaf, no baggage!"

Though he had the entire multiverse to himself – an ever-flowing cosmic expanse of infinitely-growing universes, each independent from the other and different in some ways, yet similar in others, the newcomer to this multiverse focused his attention on an addition he did not recognize in the slightest. It hadn't been present in _that_ multiverse; he would've known.

It was, to him, an insignificant little blot on an insignificant little continent, in the Far Eastern reaches of this universe's planet Earth. Though this place, this city-state, was the forefront of scientific advancement and arguably the most powerful international entity, capable of flattening the entire world's armies by itself, so capable was its arsenal, it was as an ant might've been to a grown, adult human when compared to him.

In fact, so omnipotent was he, he could measure himself with perfect accuracy as being billions of times more powerful than this infinitely-expanding multiverse, and everything in it. This place, Academy City, was less than nothing compared to him.

Willing himself to that pitifully weak, utterly pathetic speck of dust on a pitifully weak, utterly pathetic planet, the One from Beyond casually strutted on the air, as if he were walking on solid ground. He heard conversations from all beings on this planet, all at once, no matter where they were taking place.

One in particular caught his attention. It was the ending of a conversation, a seemingly inane thing, some pointless drivel shared by a couple of lowly, cosmic grains of sand scattered across an infinite beach.

"These small fights are such a pain. I think I'll just end the world."

The One from Beyond leapt into action.

"HEY! I just got here! Forget it, lady. The One from Beyond won't allow it! I have things to see, and people to meet! You can end the world later."

The speaker turned to face the newcomer to this scene.

Crossing his arms across his muscled chest, the One from Beyond shot a glare of barely-veiled contempt at the person who opposed his desires.

She was oddly-dressed. Barely dressed at all, in fact. Some sort of pseudo-swimsuit, obviously intended to be physically provocative, a long, flowing cape, a pointed hat – not unlike that which a stereotypical wizard might've worn upon his head – and matching boots which hugged her legs, rising to her knees. An odd-looking eyepatch, accented with red, obscured one of her eyes. The other, visible eye was bright, emerald green.

Pale and terrible, she, the speaker, faced away from an entirely ordinary-looking high school boy.

"Who… Or what… Are you?"

She could feel the power he radiated. It flowed freely from this newcomer, this "One from Beyond" like heat from an industrial oven with its doors swung open. He was tall, broad-shouldered, well-built, and straight-faced.

Othinus knew well enough that she was little more than a miniscule, cosmic speck compared to this being. Even with all the power of Gungnir.

Still, she had pride, and a reputation to keep.

"You have no business here. Run along."

"Not so fast, blondie. I give the orders around here! Now, KNEEL!"

The command was swift and instantaneous. She, the speaker, had no means of resisting it. She bent knee, compelled by some force beyond her comprehension.

"Better!" The One from Beyond announced, taking some few steps forward. "Tell me, what do they call you?"

"You first."

"Me? Well, I'm called many things! Most commonly, I'm referred to as 'the Beyonder'. But that's only an honorary title! I've also been called 'the One Who is All', the 'One from Beyond', and 'Frank'."

"I am Othinus. And I am omnipotent."

This stranger spoke like an over-excited child, eager to introduce himself and brag about whatever power he did possess. He was no Magic God, that much Othinus could tell easily enough. He weaved no spells and casted no magic.

He'd simply willed her to kneel, and she had. Despite her best efforts, Othinus could not will her body to rise again. It was as if she'd lost all control of herself.

"Now, release me at once. I have matters I must attend to. Destroying this world is one of them."

"Blah, blah, blah. You're BORING! You're uninspired! You're not an intellectual!"

The one known as the Beyonder pointed a finger accusingly at the Magic God, Othinus.

"And, guess what else? You! DON'T! EXIST! Get lost! Take a hike, blondie! I just met you, and I'm already sick to death of you!"

The ornately-decorated Lance of the All-Father, Gungnir, fell limp to one side, clacking and clanging against pavement. The Beyonder descended to the ground, and strutted as if nothing out the ordinary at all had just occurred. For him, it was another day of the week. Another 'omnipotent' deity erased from existence in the time it took him to blink. Picking the legendary weapon of the All-Father up like it were little more than a discarded trinket, the Beyonder shrunk the object down to a more manageable size, and stuffed it into his pocket.

"What an unlikeable person!" The Beyonder proclaimed, clicking his tongue impatiently. "I'll just end the world", she says. Right! Not while I'm around, she won't! I have things to do here! I'm not just going to roll up and watch the entire planet go ka-boom."

It was then, as he sufficiently cooled off, the Beyonder realized he hadn't exactly made a wonderful impression, especially upon the confused-looking, spiky-haired boy who stood, seemingly in a daze, staring directly at him.

"So much for turning over a new leaf," the Beyonder grumbled. Already aware that he was being stared at, he approached his beholder, and placed a firm, powerful arm around the boy's shoulders, pulling him into a friendly half-embrace.

"You're a hero, I take it? Like the heroes I met in that… _other…_ multiverse! You were going to try and stop that blonde bimbo, weren't you? Good show! Proud of you, great moves!"

The Beyonder extended his free hand, and opened it, palm-up.

The utterly confused spiky-haired boy stared down at it, wordlessly.

"I can still salvage this situation. Yep! I'll counteract my previous deed by doing something a bit nicer. Name something you want, Mr. Kamijou! Anything!"

"How did you…?"

"Omniscience," Beyonder casually remarked, as if it were something so common anyone would've heard such an explanation and nodded, understanding entirely. "Name something you want, and I'll give it to you. Nothing you can imagine is impossible for me!"

He'd found himself in stranger situations, easily. He'd roll with this, and try not to question the veracity of this stranger's claims.

After all, this stranger had possibly just saved not only him, but the entire world itself. If he were telling the truth.

"Well," the spiky-haired boy finally responded, "this Kamijou-san can think of plenty. But, really, more than anything, I'd just like back whatever memories I've lost. I think that's the most important."

"Memories? Most people would have asked for ten trillion dollars, or a yacht," the Beyonder retorted, slightly puzzled. "But! A deal is a deal. Memories, I can do. In fact, I can do ANYTHING!"

With a wave of the stranger's hand, it all came flooding back to Kamijou, then. Everything he'd ever lost. Every single detail that had ever been locked away, taken from him, or otherwise simply forgotten in the various amnesiac episodes he'd ever endured. Willed by omnipotent power, the boy's brain restored itself, as if no harm had ever come to it all. The act had never suffered even a single percentage of failure. The Beyonder had willed it to be so, and so it was.

Releasing the boy from his grip, the Beyonder placed either of his fists, clenched, upon his hips and glanced downward. He towered over Kamijou.

"Feeling less forgetful yet?"

"This Kamijou-san remembers everything! It's all coming back to me! Everything before I'd ever met Index! All of it! SUCH FORTUNE! Such good luck! I… I can't believe I actually just said that."

He bowed, politely, and then immediately took off, proclaiming his positivity and thankfulness. It was as if the boy had just won the lottery; struck the jackpot, no less.

"Hey! That felt pretty nice," the Beyonder admitted to no one, relaxing into a more casual posture. "I've helped people before, sure. But… I was out of it back then! Young, and stupid! I didn't know what I know now."

Walking forward, he stuffed either of his hands into his pockets, and took in the scenery. Completely unaware that he'd just ended a cosmic catastrophe in a heartbeat, the Beyonder did feel quite proud of himself. He held his head high.

He did have to acknowledge the truth was so. Even to erase the likes of Othinus from existence, it took less than a single percentage of his overall power. He knew well that he couldn't utilize much more than that. Utilizing even two percentage of his total power would likely destabilize this multiverse, and instantly kill, or otherwise destroy everything in it.

With less than two percentage of his total power, the Beyonder was infinitely more powerful than even those who stared down at him from on high, in some layer of reality separate entirely from all others, where the laws of time and space did not apply.

He looked to the skies, as if to face them directly.

"I can feel it, all the way from here!" One of those who resided within this place proclaimed, shuddering as if she was chilled by unwelcoming, cold weather. Purple-skinned, with a single, exposed green eye, the over obscured by some arcane charm dangling from her crown-like hat, upon which foreign apathetical characters were written. Her short, white China dress swayed awkwardly despite the lack of any oxygenized air, as did her shoulder-length black hair. "I wouldn't mind testing him."

A grim specter shook his slender, bandage-covered finger in disapproval. His bandage-wrapped, grey skin, dried like the branches of some aged tree was ultimately covered more intimately by a traditional, frilled Buddhist's robe, and, over that, a golden rakusu.

"Uho hoi. You feel it, yet, foolishly you challenge him? His power is such that it could…"

"Othinus was a failure. We will stand against this otherworldly invader."

A chocolate-skinned beauty sat upon nothing, and dangled her legs, utterly relaxed in her environment. Her long, silver hair fell nearly to her buttocks. Her face, delicate, though seemingly with a hint of sternness etched into its features, was accented by a blue and green teardrop, respectively, beneath either of her eyes. Garbed in little more than ornately decorated bandages she clasped her hands and placed them firmly in her lap.

"Uho hoi. Of course. I had merely postured to point out the obvious. This stranger's power is above all of us."

"Why are we taking this so seriously? This is OUR Hidden World. Nobody can breach this place! Not even—"

As if the very thought had brought a jinx upon Niang-Niang, the sanctity of the True Gremlin's sanctuary, their Hidden World, was violated.

"Why hold yourselves up in your little clubhouse? Let me in on the secret! What's all that whispering about?"

Arms folded across his muscled chest, the Beyonder had appeared. There had been no grand entrance, no mighty clashing, no shattering of dimensions that heralded his coming. He had simply formed there; in a place he shouldn't have even rightly known existed.

"Uho hoi. An interesting—"

"Go 'uho hoi' yourself, you old geezer! This is something I just can't tolerate. Not from you, not from anyone. So, what, you're the head honchos? You're the 'strongest' there is around here?"

The Beyonder extended his arms, and tossed his head back. His mocking laughter crashed throughout the Hidden World, originating from all directions at once like the claps of roaring thunder.

"Are you _serious_?! HA! I'm glad I decided to stop by! What a laugh!"

"There are no further words to be shared," the chocolate-skinned beauty remarked, a vein pulsing in the side of her forehead. "You have come where you are not wanted, invader. You do not belong here. Return to wherever it is you came from, at once. Your disturbance of this reality's delicate balance will not be tolerated."

"Or what?!"

He wasn't laughing anymore. Standing upon nothing, legs spread apart, the Beyonder's expression folded into one of abject anger.

Without another word, every singular Magic God in every corner of the Hidden World readied themselves. High Priest, Nephthys, Niang-Niang, Zombie, Chimera, Nuada, Proserpina, Tezcatlipoca, the Forgotten God, and every other being of immeasurable power that dwelled in this place that was not a place unleashed every ounce of their combined power.

Were such a thing released in any dimension, any Phase that was not the unrestricted and lawless Hidden World, all creation would have ended trillions of times over. Every living thing, from the mightiest and largest to the smallest, microscopic, single-celled organisms would have instantaneously ceased to be in so many countless bursts of astral conflagration.

… And, yet, the Beyonder stood unharmed. Not a hair on his head out of place, not a shred of his clothing wrinkled.

"Do even a single one of you complete IDIOTS have any idea what you're up against?!"

The Beyonder raised a hand, and extended his little finger for all to see.

"I have more power in a single microbe in this single finger than any of you do, combined! You're outmatched! Outmatched beyond comprehension, in fact!"

He rose, and let loose his power. Bolts of shining, brilliant white and masses of flowing, bubbling darkness surged out from him. The Magic Gods were laid low in an instant. The Beyonder dove, and struck down the bandaged High Priest with a single punch.

Yet it was not a single punch; it was all that could be comprehended. It was innumerable thrusts, punches, uppercuts, and hooks thrown in the span of a microsecond. On the countless levels besides the physical upon which the blow took place, there were those that even the Magic Gods of True Gremlin could not begin to try and understand.

That is to say, the very concept of 'High Priest', the 'Magic God', had been attacked on a fundamental level.

The self-mummified Buddhist fell, barely alive. Potent cosmic energies, the might of countless aeons of pure, unrefined mana flowed openly from his mangled form.

"W-What do you want?!" Niang-Niang cried aloud, realizing all that had transpired only in this very moment.

"… Say you're sorry."

"Sorry for what?!"

"For trying to talk behind my back, what else?! You so-called 'gods', the bunch of you, are slow as molasses!"

Silence descended, before the apparent voice of reason in this unprecedented situation stepped forward. She rose, still reeling from the fact that she'd been brought to her knees at all.

"Apologies are in order, then, invader. You have what you sought. Leave, and never return."

The One from Beyond raised an eyebrow, then huffed, irritated.

"Not as honest as I'd like; but I can tell it's the best I'll be getting from you. Farewell! Don't let it happen again. Good-bye!"

The Beyonder departed, leaving True Gremlin in their Hidden World to clean up his mess. Returning to Earth as swiftly as he'd left, the outsider who'd lost his way and wound up in the wrong multiverse eventually conjured from nothing a large, comfortable sofa for himself.

In the middle of a bustling street.

Vehicles swerved to avoid him, occasionally racing onto the sidewalks, subsequently causing Academy City's student majority citizens to flee for their lives or otherwise face the squealing, swerving wheels of dispersing traffic.

"Go around! I'm trying to relax, here!" The Beyonder complained. "This is where I'm going to do it. Don't like it? Too bad! Cry me a river! Leave a complaint by calling 1-800-Buzz-Off!"

As vehicles swerved to avoid him – some simply passing through him and his created sofa harmlessly – the Beyonder took a moment to contemplate his actions thus far.

"I was going to turn over a new leaf, wasn't I? This isn't new-leafy at all. I'm worse at this than I thought!"

With a grumble he rose, floating into the air, standing upon his feet regardless of no solid surfaces being below him. His sofa disappeared in a burst of white, and, as he surveyed his surroundings, an interesting sight caught his eye.

"Ah! That's it. I'll take a load off over there; the family restaurant. "Joseph's"! As long as I behave myself, I shouldn't encounter anything in the way of trouble at all."

The Beyonder raised a fist, a determined expression forming upon his face.

"Yes. A great idea!"


	2. Mugino Shizuri VS The Beyonder

The prolonged blaring of an oncoming vehicle's horn didn't concern the pedestrian in the slightest. With either of his hands stuffed into his pockets, he walked along the middle of the roadway itself with the sort of casual strut a clubgoer might have walked with.

It blared, and it blared, and it _blared_.

"Oh, **honestly**!" The pedestrian complained suddenly.

He raised his index finger, and with a grunt of displeasure, the vehicle simply, for lack of a better descriptor, fell apart. Every part, every individual piece required for the vehicle to function at all was entirely separated. Each floated, suspended in midair.

Harmlessly, the vehicle's driver fell to the ground below. He landed directly upon his posterior; with a vocalized complaint he rose, dusting himself off.

"Hey, you! Put my car back together this instant!" The vehicle's driver complained, angry enough to chase down his tormentor but too concerned about the well-being of his financial investment – in thousands of individual pieces as it might have been – not to follow up on his thoughts.

"Take a hike!" was the pedestrian's response. With a wag of his finger, the suspended, fractured vehicle re-assembled itself. "Talk to me like that again, and I'll turn you into an éclair!"

And the backed-up traffic that had formed on this stretch of road in Academy City's seventh school district was finally able to get a move on once again. Relieved, the vehicle's owner clambered back into his restored, prized possession and simply chose to drive around the seemingly all-powerful pedestrian.

Finally reaching his destination without any further interruptions, he approached the family restaurant, threw open the glass doors with such force that their hinges could barely hold them in place, and stepped in.

"I didn't think about this before," he monologued, unconcerned by the odd glances shot in his direction by those who were dining in the family restaurant, "but, I don't even have any money, do I? I suppose that really does settle it."

The Beyonder pressed his clenched fist into the palm of his outstretched hand, and nodded affirmatively at no one.

"I'll have to do it the 'old-fashioned' way!"

He approached the counter, butted in line – quickly silencing anyone who protested with a wave of his hand – and placed either of his hands flat upon the counter's surface.

The cashier girl looked at him with an expression of bewilderment.

"C-Could I ask you to move to the b-back of the queue, s-sir?"

"No! You can't."

There was something, a flash in his eyes.

"Get me a burger, and a soda! Pronto! I'm going to keel over here if I don't get a bite to eat! Go on then!"

"Of course, Beyonder! Right away!"

The cashier girl promptly abandoned her post, and began engaging in the necessary duties required to prepare the meal that had been demanded of her, disturbing the ebb and flow of the restaurant's command chain.

Stepping back, the Beyonder moved himself out of the way, and leaned against a nearby wall. Folding his arms over his chest, the Beyonder examined those he'd be dining with.

No one seemingly out of the ordinary. Mostly the sort of folk one could expect at a family restaurant.

"What simple creatures," he marvelled to himself. "They go through the motions of their day-to-day, stunningly average lives without thinking about much of anything! They're so… So, contended! They're guided by their baser instincts, and these fulfilments please them. Desire is an element I still don't understand. Maybe because I don't have to desire anything at all!"

Though he kept his voice down, as not to attract unwanted attention from _all_ of those who would be sharing the family restaurant's dining room with him, the Beyonder quickly realized he was, in fact, being watched.

Piping down, he let those watching him know very well that he knew of them, could see – and, perhaps more accurately – sense them.

"Beyonder, sir! Your meal! Please don't worry about paying! It's an honor to serve you!"

He'd almost forgotten that he'd ordered anything at all. The Beyonder collected his tray.

"A tip! For your trouble."

On the counter, placed neatly before the cashier girl and having emerged from nothing like origination in some culture's creation myth, was an opened suitcase, stuffed with Japanese Yen. It amounted to billions, altogether.

Starstruck, the cashier girl promptly threw down the 'Joseph's' branded visor on her, collected the suitcase, and announced to every stunned onlooker: "I QUIT!"

Ignoring the subsequent uproar his actions had caused, the Beyonder took a seat by himself at an empty booth, unwrapped his hard-won hamburger, and promptly devoured the entire thing in mere moments, leaving his chin splattered with liquid condiments.

"Mugino… Did he… Just… Did he just super do what I saw him do?"

"He did."

Sitting across from one another, the unfolding ruckus had caught the attention of the short-haired bob cut girl, Kinuhata Saiai. Her sweater-dress just barely covering her underdeveloped backside, the girl set down the magazine she'd been reading, sipped from her soda's straw, and cast her eyes' gaze downward as not to be noticed. Attempting to act naturally, she brushed several of her fingers through her brown locks.

The other, taller, more overtly mature woman – not someone who could rightly be called a 'girl' – did not take such precautions. Mugino Shizuri remained turned, awkwardly, staring at the one who had waltzed into her place of (relative) relaxation and created such commotion. Her long, soft, tea-colored hair partially obscured the side of her face. Though her stylish, brightly-colored clothing may have led some to believe she was little more than some haughty fashionista, she was, in reality, a trained – and very effective – mercenary which much blood spilled upon her hands.

Shizuri approached the situation, mentally, as a combatant with many a notch on her proverbial belt would have. She sized up the potential threat, and immediately began to concoct means through which, should an escalation occur, that threat could be quickly neutralized.

Of course, Mugino Shizuri lacked even an inking of knowledge regarding that which she looked upon.

"I don't know who he thinks he is," Shizuri huffed. "Some uppity esper who decides to have a field day. Completely unaware that a level five is here, waiting for the very second when he fucks up, so I can…"

"Mugino?"

"Oi, Kinuhata. Why are you interrupting me?"

"M-Mugino? Super LOOK!"

There he was, sitting next to her. His muscled form took up much of the booth's seat upon which Shizuri sat. His dark irises stared directly into the fourth-ranked level five's own eyes.

And, in that moment, Mugino Shizuri experienced the power of the Beyonder. She felt it throughout her entire body. She felt it surge through her veins, riding the waves of her rushing blood directly into her brain. For the briefest of seconds, it had felt as if her very mind was straining, trying to comprehend something that it, simply, possibly couldn't. Her every cell experienced the sensation of catching fire.

"What the HELL ARE YOU?!"

The Beyonder's gaze relaxed, and he freed Mugino Shizuri, releasing her from the impossibility she had just experienced. His thick, muscled arm soon found its way around her shoulder, and, as casually as a romantic partner who'd interacted with their lover for years might have, pulled the fourth-ranked level five toward him, resting the side of her head upon one of his protruding pecs.

"I'm the Beyonder! Or, 'the One from Beyond'. Or, 'the One Who Is All'. Or, just 'Frank'. Whatever works, sweetheart. Say! I saw you giving me the evil eye from across the room, so I decided to step in and make the first move. How was _that_ for an icebreaker? We could go back to my place, and watch some Halle Berry!"

Utterly petrified, Mugino Shizuri dared not move a muscle.

"… You're giving me the cold shoulder now? That's too bad. Can't force you!"

Saiai's own mind was still reeling, to boot. What sort of esper ability was this? He hadn't teleported – she knew well enough the sure signs of a teleporter using their ability. This man, whoever he was, he hadn't teleported at all. He'd appeared in one place after departing another with such a swiftness that her mind couldn't comprehend it.

Moreover, even if he _were_ an esper, how would he have been capable of wielding two abilities at once? Multi-Skill aside, he'd effortlessly brainwashed – or, perhaps merely mentally influenced – scores of people at once. He'd created a trunk filled with more money than ITEM had seen in their collective lives, and had simply given it away.

Shizuri was right to ask what she'd ask. What even _was_ this man?

Trying to salvage the situation, the level four esper cleared her throat, and then spoke up.

"Hey. What's your esper ability?"

"ESP… What now, little girl? Are you lost? Or… Oh. Oh dear. Am I romancing your _mother?!_ "

Quickly releasing the still-stunned Mugino Shizuri from his grasp, the Beyonder reeled, understanding the implications of his actions, and how they could affect his standing within this community.

"How could I have known?! There was never any indication! Oh, bro-ther! I'm really having an off day!"

"She's… Super not my mom," Saiai remarked passingly. "And don't call me a 'little girl'. It's super insulting. I'm an adult on my own terms."

Then, Mugino Shizuri spoke up. She shot up from her seat, and pointed an insinuating finger directly at the Beyonder, who merely tilted his head in relative confusion. Casually leaning back in his seat, the One from Beyond folded his arms over his chest once more, and sighed. He had some idea of what was coming.

"You're omnipotent!"

The exclamation came out sounding more like some sort of accusation.

"You're… You're fucking omnipotent! I _felt_ it ALL!"

Had he accidentally broken her? The Beyonder's expression turned to one of concerned sympathy. With a wave of his hand, the fourth-ranked level five seemed to calm. Her body ceased its shuddering, her arm fell to her side, and her own expression soon turned to one of contempt.

"You'll give yourself a stroke!" The One from Beyond remarked, then. "Relax a minute, would you? You're a real high-strung broad!"

"Did you just… Call me… A 'broad'?"

With a sigh, the Beyonder rubbed his temples in frustration.

"Oh, **honestly**. You're a real drag. I'm outta here! Good-bye! I can't believe I almost watched Halle Berry with you."

The Beyonder promptly departed from the family restaurant, but not promptly grabbing Mugino Shizuri by the throat with one hand, and, with the other, tearing a hole in the very fabric of reality. So omnipotent was he, that this act tore multiversal space-time and obliterated trillions of entire dimensions in the process. That which existed outside of reality was vast, dark nothingness.

Without hesitation, the Beyonder simply tossed the fourth-ranked level five esper through the pinhole he'd created, like she was garbage, and then promptly closed it.

The ruckus caused by the One from Beyond there never really did calm. Nor did Kinuhata Saiai.

Finding himself aimlessly wandering Academy City's seventh school district once again, the Beyonder returned his hands to his pockets, took to the sidewalk this time, and quietly whispered a tune to himself.

" _I've got ninety-nine problems, but a bitch ain't one!_ **"**

* * *

"… Such misfortune."

Just when his luck had seemed to have turned around after meeting that white-clad stranger who'd reduced One-Eyed Othinus to nonexistence, thereby ending the crisis that had come to consume his life, Kamijou Touma found himself back in the hot seat.

This time, it wasn't some dastardly villain, or some well-meaning anti-hero. It was, instead, his classmate and Magic Side collaborator, Tsuchimikado Motoharu.

His usual veneer of 'the classmate guy' had fallen. The sunglasses-wearing Backstabbing Blade was deadly serious.

"Kami-yan. I'm sorry to say, but I can't let you leave until you tell me exactly what happened. I have sources telling me you were spotted with that Magic God on top of our high school. I need to know everything. I'll keep this up as long as I have to."

"Oi, Tsuchimikado! I told you everything, already!"

"You're good at a lot of things, Kami-yan… But lying? Not one of them."

Kamijou wasn't even certain as to how Tsuchimikado had gotten into his dorm, given that, last he remembered, he'd locked the place up quite tightly. Somehow, through some means, that slithering, shades-wearing serpent had found a way, and had been waiting for him.

How?

Knowing he'd likely give himself a weeks-long migraine trying to understand it, Touma sighed, frustrated.

The little nun, Index, had seated herself on the bed nearby. An expression of concern had etched itself upon her face, yet, she hadn't decided to intervene. Instead, she watched on as her 'keeper' underwent his interrogation.

"Something happened to that Magic God, Kamijou. She disappeared, vanished. Was it Imagine Breaker?"

"N-No! I didn't even touch her. I think, maybe, her powers backfired, and she turned herself to dust on accident? I just don't know! Unless you want to set this Kamijou-san up with a lie detector test to prove it, I can't tell you anything more than I already did."

Of course, Kamijou Touma knew well enough that Othinus hadn't 'accidentally destroyed herself', or anything equally absurd. That stranger in white had erased her, in the blink of an eye. It would be simple enough to tell Tsuchimikado about it. But what would that mean for the stranger who had quite possibly saved the entire world? Surely, the rest of the Magic Side would learn of it.

And then what?

No, Kamijou would stick to his guns.

The two classmates exchanged glances.

"… Tsuchimikado, if you want a staring contest, you'll have to take those shades off."

"Now's not the time for jokes, Kami-yan. This is serious business. Act like it."

"This Kamijou-san is terribly sorry, interrogator-sama. Please don't waterboard me."

Sarcasm dripped from Kamijou's every word. He wouldn't roll over; if only for the sake of his own honor. There was nothing to be gained from ratting someone out.

Finally, after what had felt like hours, the Backstabbing Blade broke. He leaned back in his chair, groaned, and ran his fingertips through his blonde hair.

"I guess that's that then, Kami-yan. I'll deliver my report to Kanzaki. Don't think you're off the hook. She'll probably be stopping by to take her own statement from you."

"I'm nothing but thrilled."

Rising, the boy in the Hawaiian took his leave.

"Ciao, Index-san."

The little nun didn't exactly respond. She merely nodded, politely, in response.

The moment in which the Backstabbing Blade departed, Index quickly rushed to her friend's side, wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and held him close.

"Touma! Touma! I was so worried!"

"This Kamijou-san has been through worse, Index," Touma remarked, offering what reassurance he could by returning the embrace. Her softness, her warmth, it was comforting.

Especially given all that they'd been through up to this point.

Evidently not ready to release her guardian, Index's embrace only tightened.

"Touma. Do you know who that man in white was? I wasn't going to say anything, just in case he was one of your friends. Was he?"

Index's embrace was becoming a bit _too_ tight; Kamijou struggled to inhale beneath the nun's surprisingly considerable weight. Still, he lacked the heart to try and remove her.

"Never seen him before in my life. He called himself a bunch of things, and then he just… Made Othinus disappear. Because he said so."

With such an anticlimactic end to this newest crisis faced by planet Earth, Kamijou was left to think on that which had happened.

Surely, she could've been saved.

There was no such thing as an 'evil' person; only people making mistakes, or otherwise acting on convictions that were, perhaps, darker in nature than those possessed by most. To imply that a person was inherently, irredeemably evil was to imply the impossible could be true.

That is to say, Kamijou Touma felt the loss of Othinus weigh upon him quite heavily.

Perhaps he should've spoken up? Said something, anything? Then again, the white-clad stranger had acted far too quickly. With his memories restored, he'd lost himself in celebrating his own victory, while another's existence had been all but snuffed out.

He'd failed.

That girl wouldn't ever be given the chance to smile, ever. Because of him. Because he'd failed to stop the white-clad stranger.

"Touma? Touma?"

So lost in his own thoughts had he become, Touma had almost forgotten that Index was even in the room with him. She'd relinquished her embrace upon him, and returned to her perch upon the dorm's bed.

"Fine, fine! Just thinking!"

A sneer formed upon the boy's face as he rose from his chair.

"Since when were you so doting, Index-san? If I didn't know any better, I'd almost say you might actually like me."

Her cheeks glowing bright red, her berserk button pressed, the little nun's eyes flashed. Her teeth bared, she snarled.

"Tooouummmaaaaaa… Even if I've been trying to improve myself, that doesn't make you exempt! Repent for your sins!"

For the first time in a long time, things actually felt normal. Index's jagged, pointed fangs digging into his scalp, like the little nun was some sort of parasitic brain-drinking creature trying to work her way through his skull.

Just to accent the moment, the spiky-haired boy exclaimed, as loudly as he could, "SUCH MISFORTUNE!"

Maybe things wouldn't turn out so badly after all. Maybe, he could talk to that white-clad stranger about bringing that girl, that One-Eyed Othinus back. Maybe she could be talked down from her threats. Maybe Kamijou could still save that girl's smile.

But the question was: where had he gone? Where had that being 'the One from Beyond', or 'the Beyonder' gone?

The air seemed to shift in some strange direction then. The dorm seemed to become just a tad stuffier.

"The Beyonder is **here**!"


	3. Magic God Othinus VS The Beyonder

The brightness of the shining, glimmering white light was enough to temporarily blind both Kamijou Touma and Index Librorum Prohibitorum. Neither could bear witness to the flowing masses of pitch black, like chunks of a clear night's sky torn out from above which churned aimlessly within that whiteness.

By the time their vision was returned to them – perhaps after re-adjusting naturally, or perhaps willed by the Beyonder himself – both residents of the cramped dorm were nearly ready to take up arms.

Kamijou extended his right arm outward protectively, shielding Index from any potential harm.

"Woah. No need for violence," The Beyonder proclaimed then. "We're all friends here. You were wondering where I was, so, I decided to show myself. So far, you're the only one who seems to care!"

"How did you…?"

The Beyonder pointed an index finger to his temple.

"Omniscience! Remember? Didn't we already have this conversation? You sure are forgetful."

It was the white-clad man. Here, in Kamijou's residence. How could this man have even known? Touma hadn't said a word about him. Index had, sure, but the white-clad man wasn't addressing Index, was he?

The first words that came flying out of Kamijou's mouth – he hadn't even taken a moment's time to think about them – were…

"You've got to bring her back."

With his arm still outstretched, ensuring that Index would be protected from whatever force this stranger was capable of wielding, Kamijou stared the white-clad man down.

The show of fortitude was enough to leave the omnipotent being thoroughly impressed.

"Bring 'her' back…? Who…? Oh!"

Clapping his hands together in remembrance, the Beyonder folded them across his chest once more, and resumed his stare-down with the spikey-haired boy.

"You mean that unlikeable 'god'? Not a chance."

"You don't understand!"

"I understand perfectly! She was going to 'end the world'. Seemed pretty cut-and-dry to me. I'm no murderer; I would have given her a chance if she hadn't gone around babbling about things like that. I had to intervene, see? I **had** to! In my own way, I was acting heroically. Get it?!"

The Beyonder sighed, frustrated. He rubbed his temples, trying to keep his rage in check. Very much aware that a sudden outburst could result in his unwitting destruction of billions of entire universes with little more than a mere angry thought, the One from Beyond breathed in, and then out, squaring his breaths.

"What would you have done? Did I not make the right decision?"

"I don't think you did, no."

Touma finally lowered his arm, and, as if to seek the familiarity of his protection, Index wrapped both of her arms around Touma's own.

"That girl could have been saved. She was about to make a terrible decision, there's no doubting that; but I think she could've been talked out of that."

Meaning no harm, Kamijou Touma took a few extra steps forward.

"She could've been another person who learned how to smile. It's my experience that people who think like that Magic God did are troubled. They need someone to level with them, and acknowledge that their fundamental principals aren't necessarily bad, and that they're **aren't** evil! Maybe she needs someone who can understand her, and relate to her."

Kamijou's right hand clenched into a fist.

"No matter what, I'm going to find a way to save that girl's smile!"

The Beyonder cradled his chin between his hand's index finger and thumb. Thoughtfully, he scratched at it, his eyebrows arching. He seemed to be deep in thought.

It was during these thoughts that, by happenstance, the Beyonder's more positive outlook on the situation revitalized and fully rebuilt those trillions of dimensions that he'd completely and entirely destroyed when he'd ripped that pinhole in the multiverse's fabric to 'dispose' of Mugino Shizuri.

"You know something, Mr. Kamijou? You remind me a lot of a friend I had! Back in another multiverse!"

Having obviously hit upon an idea, the Beyonder approached an apprehensive Kamijou, and, wrapping his muscled arm around the high school boy's shoulders, offered a hand extended forward, away from them.

"His name? "Peter Parker"! He called himself "Spider-Man". He was a heroic type, just like you! Always trying to protect people. He was my favorite hero in that multiverse, and, by far I think you're my favorite here!"

"This Kamijou-san is flattered," Touma remarked, struggling slightly to free himself from the omnipotent being's grip, "in fact, I'm SO flattered, I might just have to take a few steps back."

"SO!" The Beyonder proclaimed, then, startling both Touma and Index, "if you want that nasty, bad-attitude 'god' back, you'll have her! To boot, I have a plan that might help with your heroic desires!"

In an instant, the Beyonder, Kamijou Touma, and Index Librorum Prohibitorum had found themselves back on the roof of Kamijou's high school. Teleportation couldn't be used to describe what had happened; the three had simply been in one place, and now, found themselves in another. The act was instantaneous.

Moreover, it had been made apparent that whatever supernatural power the white-clad man wielded was even above the Imagine Breaker's authority.

"Get ready!"

In a great, glimmering burst of white that stretched all across the multiverse, the Magic God, Othinus, had returned.

"These small fights are such a pain. I think I'll just—?!"

Othinus was empty-handed.

Indeed, the last moment in which she'd so much as blinked, she'd stood there, with Gungnir in hand, the weapon thrust to the heavens. Her proclamation of complete victory had been cut short. The Magic God's slender, delicate fingers grasped at nothing.

"Looking for **this**?"

From within his pocket, an unknown white-clad man produced Gungnir. It was shrunken down to a miniature size, no larger than the unknown man's own hand. He grasped it and seemed to force the Lance of the All-Father to experience some sort of unnatural growth. It expanded out, returning to full size.

"I would reclaim what is rightfully mine."

Othinus lunged, her speed inconceivable to the naked eye. She'd become all but a blur, a mass of flashing golden and black.

And yet, she was instantly cowed by the One from Beyond, who nonchalantly grasped the Magic God by the throat, and held her aloft.

" **This** ought to make you a bit more willing to listen to reason!"

With only the power of his omnipotent will, the One from Beyond drew forth from Othinus every ounce of her power. Every last drop of that which made the one-eyed girl a Magic God. Glowing with such brightness that the Beyonder might as well have ripped the sun out from space itself, raw, chaotic power lashed out and whipped at reality.

And he dispersed it, launching the glowing, reality-bending mass of semi-physical living power out into the cosmos beyond. The echoes of this act were felt even in the Hidden World.

Throwing One-Eyed Othinus to the tiled flooring of the high school's ceiling below, the Beyonder stepped back, and folded his arms across his chest.

"Speak!" The One from Beyond commanded. "This heroic boy would seek to redeem your irredeemable self. Me? I think you're a nuisance! **He** requested I return you to existence after I had erased you and your 'omnipotence' with but a thought! He saved you. Show some respect."

Before Kamijou could attempt to reach the broken, powerless former Magic God, Beyonder stared directly into Othinus' own single, exposed emerald eye. Their gazes locked.

Without expending more effort than a toddler would have needed to break the flimsy, decayed fallen branch from a tree over their knee, the One from Beyond broke Gungnir over his knee in quite a similar fashion.

"Just so you don't go and get any ideas! It's powerless now! I destroyed it. You can clamor for it if you want, but there's no point! **And!** If you hatch any more ideas about 'ending the world', you'll wind up just like that! So, don't even bother. I transact on levels inconceivable to you, blondie!"

An aggravated Kamijou Touma made his way to the girl whose hopes and dreams had been broken, right in front of her face. The One from Beyond seemed to be all too proud of himself; but **his** reprimand could wait.

If he was going to save this girl's smile, he would have to act, fast. She'd only just had everything taken from her. If he didn't move quickly, she could very well fall into an endless despair.

He couldn't let that happen, not again. He'd already failed too many people.

Despite himself, despite the threat this former Magic God had posed to the world, despite the fact that such an act would likely make him some sort of international terror suspect, if anyone were to see him engaging in it, Kamijou Touma knelt beside her, and took her into a tight embrace.

"Why?"

Her voice was soft, cold. She spoke with no conviction. Kamijou could tell, simply by reading her empty expression, she would accept death should it come her way. She would open her arms to death and embrace it.

Despite the fact that she hadn't felt a thing – hadn't known for hours that she'd stopped existing entirely – One-Eyed Othinus knew, beyond any doubt, that this white-clad man spoke the truth. She could feel the overwhelming power radiating from him, like an industrial oven with its doors swung open, releasing surging incomprehensibly intense heat.

One-Eyed Othinus knew that even a minor fragment of this being's power, a mere droplet the size of a singular teardrop, would have contained more power than this entire multiverse itself.

She asked again, "why?"

"Because, even if you'll have to atone for what you've done…"

Kamijou's embrace tightened.

"I know you're not irredeemable. I know you aren't 'evil'. I never sensed anything of the sort coming from you! I know, no matter what it takes, you **can** smile again."

He gritted his teeth, then.

"I'll save you, Othinus! Even if it means I have to fight the entire world! I can't ever write off the crimes you've committed, and I can't change what you've done here. But I can make sure that you're given fair, proper judgement! Not just… Stand by and see you be culled!"

And, for some time, the two simply communicated. They exchanged thoughts, shared opinions, and clashed several times over their own unique concepts of that which, to them, constituted right and wrong.

All the while, the Beyonder, arms folded across his chest, merely sat quietly, perched on the edge of the high school's roof. He, of course, hadn't been inactive; he'd been combing through this multiverse while that spikey-haired boy struggled to save the former Magic God. Despite the Beyonder's initial beliefs, that spikey-haired boy actually seemed to be doing it.

This multiverse was an interesting cosmic construct, to be certain. The apparent creator of this multiverse, who had yet to show themselves – a being most mortals simply seemed to recognize as 'God', in whatever languages they spoke in – was locked in some eternal combat, some great war of wills, with another being of great and terrible power. 'Lucifer. Or, 'Satan'. A force which sought to unravel this multiverse, so jealous was it of its rival's creative power. The One from Beyond had visited both of their realms, Heaven and Hell, in spirit.

Though, in both, he was equally unwelcome. Yet, regardless, neither God nor Lucifer could remove him from their domain. Not even the astral emanation of himself, one which was considerably weaker than his full, physical form.

While Kamijou and the one-eyed girl continued their conversation – one which by this point had somehow go on for nearly an entire hour, and showed approximately zero signs of ending – the Beyonder found himself interrupted.

A visitor had come to sit beside him, her hands folded politely, neatly, in her lap.

Garbed in a mostly white nun's robe with ornately-designed golden trim worked into its fabric, and an equally ornate habit which covered her head and partially obscured her long, silver hair, the young-looking girl's eyes met with the Beyonder's own.

"Winding up in this multiverse has been one experience I'll never forget," the Beyonder stated plainly, assuming the young-looking girl was at all paying attention. "I've been here for less than a day, and so much has happened! There wasn't nearly this much excitement in the last multiverse I'd entered! I had to kick it off all on my own."

He scratched absently at his chin; his elbow propped against his muscled thigh.

"I still don't find myself any closer to understanding desire though. It's a real head-scratcher."

"… I didn't know much either, until recently," Index responded in kind, seeking to keep her voice down. "I only started learning more about the world when I started living with Touma. That's my friend's name."

Her expression turned to a slight frown.

"I… Haven't been the kindest to him. I wish I could apologize… But I don't know what I'd say."

"Oh?"

"Mhm."

It was interesting to the One from Beyond, just how easily this girl had approached him and initiated conversation. Surely, she could feel the overwhelming power that emerged unconsciously from his human approximation body's every pore. Did she not care? Or was she such a blockhead that she couldn't feel it?

"What I've learned is this! Sometimes, making a conscious effort to change says more than any apology. I used to be a real stinker! But after turning into my own son, and then accidentally dying – my omnipotent power dispersed back into my Beyond – I had some time to think!"

Thinking back to the way in which he'd casually thrown that irritable woman, Mugino Shizuri, into a timeless, space-less void beyond any known multiverse, the Beyonder had to admit…

"And even **I** still make mistakes."

Silence descended; Kamijou and the one-eyed former Magic God had risen, and seemed to be continuing their exchange on less intimate terms. They'd sat themselves upon the nearby stairs, which lead down from the rooftop and into the high school proper.

"I have a feeling this is going to take a while," Index admitted with a sigh. "Touma, Touma. He's always saving girls like this. He saved me too. And short-hair."

"Because he's a hero!" The Beyonder drove his fist into his own opened palm, and nodded affirmatively at no one. "It's what heroes do. They don't have to think. They act on their heroic desires! My friend in another multiverse, "Peter Parker", he was quite the same. Desire… So difficult for me to get my mind into it. I'll never understand it, no matter how much effort I put into trying. Even with my omnipotence! But Parker? He had it down-pat. He desired a lot of things."

"Have you ever desired anything?"

"No! I think that's very well the problem! I don't **have** to desire for anything! If I want something, I make it happen. Nothing you can imagine is impossible for me."

Index looked up, and shrugged her shoulders.

"I could imagine having a warm dinner right now…"

"Then imagine no more! I'm from Beyond. I can do anything! Just watch!"

In Index's lap, a burst of white-colored light illuminated the area, and before long sat a plate. It was covered in piping hot, steaming foodstuffs. Steak, smothered in gravy. Buttered and salted potatoes, and heavily buttered, roasted carrots.

Happiness practically exploded from the hungry little nun, who quickly dug in, shovelling the food into her mouth with her hands like some sort of starving orphan who'd just been fed by a passing good Samaritan.

"TAAASSTTTYYYYY!"

The One from Beyond merely offered an agreeable smile, and then turned his attention back to the multiverse.

* * *

An odd sight if such a thing ever existed; a golden retriever, his fur healthy and shaggy, his intelligent eyes full of wonderment, sitting politely upon his rump in the pinnacle of a windowless tower, its every nook and cranny filled to the brim with the most advanced technology this Earth would ever see.

Not alone was this canine. Nearby, seated upon an equally odd, perfectly ordinary wooden chair – impressive only because of the attention to detail that had been paid to its intricate design – was an oddly androgynous being. An odd, blooming black hat, from which two, white-streaming bolts of cloth floated as if they were held aloft by a breeze sat upon their head, and a long, black cloak was draped over their shoulders. Clad in a proper-looking, aqua blue uniform top and a pleated skirt, slightly a darker shade of blue, white, blue-trimmed boots rode their legs, all the way up to their thighs. Long, perfectly straightened white hair fell all the way to their knees.

"You felt it too, Noukan."

"Though the world may be filled solely with science, **this** is unexplainable. For the moment."

Even the voice of the androgynous one who dwelled within this Windowless Building was difficult to pinpoint as being distinctly male or female.

"Could the AAA return comprehendible readings?"

"None. The AAA briefly experienced a shutdown when attempting its calculations. Fear not; I ensured it returned to a functional state. Between like, and dislike… I very much dislike this turn of events, Aleister."

The white-haired, androgynous Aleister folded one leg elegantly over the other, and seemed to ponder.

"Make no mistake. Do not, under any circumstance, risk a direct confrontation."

"You're unnerved, Aleister."

"Aren't you?"

Noukan performed the approximation of a sigh, that which a dog was capable of. Stern-faced, when they'd normally remain openly passive and altogether aloof, Aleister rose from their seat, and placed either of their hands on their hips, as if they were, despite their overall diminutive size, attempting to be at all intimidating.

"This visitor to our multiverse is beyond us. I could, Noukan, gather every electron in this multiverse – strip them from every life, large and tiny – and hurl the amalgamation of the infinite cosmos at our visitor…"

Aleister's eyelids narrowed.

"And he would not so much as stagger. Our multiverse, and no doubt all things living within it, are little more than a drop in an infinite ocean when compared to him."

Such an admission from **the** Aleister Crowley left the golden retriever, with the mechanized hauling pack fastened tightly and securely to his back, downtrodden.

"Between like, and dislike, I very much dislike our chances for a lasting future."

Aleister Crowley, the greatest magician the world had ever known – a cosmic being of such power that the Magic Gods of True Gremlin themselves would have a difficult time pitting themselves against them – was without an answer to this conundrum.

Instead of sulking, they permitted their perpetually-sinking frown to revert into a toothy sneer.

"Would you like a treat, puppy? Please don't look so down. I'll have you taken for a nice walk, and even give you a bath. Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?!"

" **Aleister**!"

* * *

"What's your name? I never got it. I know you call yourself a thousand ridiculous things every chance you get, but I need a decent, actual name. Something to call you."

"Just call me Frank! Or 'Beyonder' if you prefer that!"

He was so excitable, almost like a small child. Full of energy and inspiration, ready and willing to immediately jump into something at a moment's notice, without thinking about it for any length of time – caution to the wind, damned be the consequences.

It was all a bit too much for Kamijou Touma to handle. At the very least, he'd fed Index. In fact, from what the little nun's keeper had noticed, his silver-haired charge and this seemingly omnipotent being had gotten along quite well. He'd kept her distracted, which was something Kamijou felt he'd owe this white-clad man forever for.

"Alright, Beyonder. This extremely tired Kamijou-san would ask something of you."

"Anything! You're my favorite, after all."

"When did we establish that…? Ah, whatever. I don't even care. We can't turn Othi-chan over to the world's authorities. They'd…"

"Do not call me that, human," the once-Magic God snarled.

"Okay, okay! Such misfortune… Beyonder. I don't want to think about what they'd have done to her; but she needs to face some sort of justice. Something fair. Something so she can repent and learn. Not punishment… More rehabilitation."

The Beyonder seemed to hatch an idea almost immediately.

"House arrest!"

Kamijou, Index and even the sullen former Magic God seemed to raise an eyebrow out that.

"Plenty of time to think, and reflect on how she wound up in this miserable situation! I'll build something. A second!"

In a moment's notice – in the time it took for any among them, save for the Beyonder himself, to blink – Kamijou and Index found themselves back in the dorm they were so familiar with.

Grasping at the air with both hands, the Beyonder pulled multiversal reality apart, as if he were splitting a set of curtains to expose a room cloaked in darkness to sunlight.

"A pocket dimension; I've already tuned it for you! Just step in. You'll stay there until you realize that you're unlikeable and stupid!"

"Oi, Beyonder!"

Kamijou clenched his fists.

"How will anyone even be able to visit her? You can't just lock her away in some… Some other dimension, by herself. I have a better idea."

Shrugging nonchalantly, the Beyonder repaired the multiversal rift he'd created, and all returned to (relative) normalcy. Folding his arms across his muscled chest, he sighed, irritated.

Kamijou, with a vein pulsing in the side of his forehead, placed his right hand firmly upon Othinus' bare shoulder.

"Oi, Othi-chan. You'll stay here with us until we figure something out. This Kamijou-san is about worn out."

Once again, the One from Beyond found himself reminded of Peter Parker, the 'Spider-Man' from another multiverse. That hero's selflessness and his desire to help those who needed it – even those who were directly, and diametrically opposed to him – rang true here, with this spikey-haired boy.

"With this business settled, I don't have much of a reason to stick around!" The Beyonder exclaimed, then. "I'll see myself out! Good-bye, Mr. Kamijou! Good luck with your heroics!"

"Do you even have a place to stay?"

"Nope! I'll just create a mansion! Somewhere far away, so I can blast my tunes, and host wild parties, and not bother a soul."

"That's… Surprisingly considerate."

Admittedly, Kamijou wanted to test something out. Perhaps it was his tired, irritated mind, driven nearly to the brink by the absurd, nightmarishly strange time he'd been having – this day considered especially – or perhaps it was some deeper, quasi-realized cynicism and desire to give this white-clad, seemingly omnipotent being, the Beyonder, some level of payback for initially denying him the chance to even try and save Othinus.

He extended his right hand; friendly enough of a gesture.

When the Beyonder would grasp the hand in his own, _something_ should happen, Kamijou figured. Perhaps Imagine Breaker would ring out. Perhaps the Beyonder's very existence would be negated by Imagine Breaker's anomalous power, a power even Touma himself lacked true understanding of.

He certainly didn't anticipate the absolutely average, incident-free handshake which followed. Imagine Breaker didn't make a sound.

"Take care, hero! The Beyonder goes now to find his own way!"

And, just like that, he was gone. Vanished, as if he'd never been there at all.

Truly, Kamijou Touma didn't know what to do next. He'd saved Othinus. Having reached something of a mutual understanding with the now-former Magic God during their brief time exchanging thoughts and ideals, finally achieving the sort of opening up from her that he'd needed to reach her, he hadn't actually anticipated what he'd do with her.

He remained correct, regardless; if Othinus were to ever face judgment from the leaders of the world, she would not be tried fairly. She might not even **be** tried at all. As an absolutely powerless being, an ordinary human, whatever godlike power she'd once possessed torn from her to the last drop by the Beyonder, there would be nothing to stop those who – perhaps rightly – sought vengeance from wreaking it in the most violent ways possible.

Kamijou couldn't allow it.

He embraced the girl with the flowing, golden hair once again.

And this time, it was an embrace she returned.

* * *

Strutting across the skies, searching for a decent place to build his 'turbomansion' – that is, an enormous mansion made from smaller mansions – the Beyonder happened to visualize plenty of the same, bright red logo. Over, and over, and over. This logo blared from the screens of smartphones, a device with which the One from Beyond hadn't immediately been familiar. There was always that same text in the upper left-hand corner.

R&C Occultics.

"What in tarnation?" The Beyonder asked rhetorically of no one. "Is this some newfangled obsession? I **must** learn more! Maybe, just maybe, this will help me figure out desire! In fact, I'm not leaving this multiverse until I DO figure desire out, once and for all!"

He landed gracefully, arms spread apart, in the twenty-first school district's Nature Park, a vast recreation area entirely populated with various, interconnected locales of natural wonderment. Animal preserves, dense artificial forests, and even a proper lake which flowed throughout.

"Excuse me a moment!" The Beyonder announced, seating himself nonchalantly directly beside a duo of girls who'd already sat themselves upon a cleanly, metallic bench overlooking a winding section of the Nature Park's river. "I'm from Beyond! Could you explain to me what that is on your… screen-box?"

"E-Eh?" A girl dressed in baggy casual clothing turned her head to face the person who'd called on her. Shoulder-length black hair accented her wide, curious blue eyes. A small, white flower ornament adorned the left side of her head, affixed nearby her bangs.

Her face erupted into a burst of bright red at the sight that she beheld.

He was muscled, obviously in his physical prime. A fit, athletic build. His clothing lacked even a single wrinkle, and though his hairstyle was outdated by several decades, he somehow **made** it work. He was almost supernaturally perfect, an amalgamation of the most alluring male traits imaginable.

"I apologize! Did I disturb you?"

"N-No!" The casually-clothed girl exclaimed, shaking her head from side to side and waving her hands spastically, in front of her.

"Saten-san, get a hold of yourself!"

Surprisingly for a small-framed girl like herself, Saten's companion shook her a bit wildly, grabbing her by the shoulders. The small-framed girl's hair was short, dark, and a crown of multicolored flowers was fastened to her head with a comfortable-looking band. Her golden-brown eyes seemed filled with concern.

"You're all red. Are you taking ill?"

"Uiharu! I've never felt better!"

Saten finally turned her attention to the confounded individual who'd sat himself beside the two ditzy-seeming girls.

"It's a new, trending service, and there are **looooots** of rumors surrounding it now, on the Internet. It's called R&C Occultics! They offer things that can make your luck better, or help you find love!"

"I can do that just as easily! I'm from Beyond. Nothing you can imagine is impossible for me."

Saten's eyelids seemed to widen at that.

"Y-You can?!"

Even Uiharu seemed to peak up at that. The Beyonder now had the girls' full, collective attention.

"I can do anything! Just ask. I'm turning over a new leaf, and so I'm helping those in need, wherever they might be. Just like my favorite heroes!"

The excited girls looked to one another, and then back to the Beyonder.

"Show us!" They proclaimed as one.


	4. Academy City VS The Beyonder - I

"Since you asked so politely, I'll do just that!"

Saten and Uiharu watched on, amazed, as the One from Beyond willed out from nothingness… A box. It was a completely ordinary, completely unremarkable cardboard box. Not unlike the sort of box one could've found, flattened and caked with dirt, in some dingy alleyway.

"Go on, open the box."

Carefully, as if she half-expected something to pop out at her, Saten reached her hand over, her slender fingers touching the soft, somewhat scratchy surface of the perfectly ordinary-seeming box. Cautiously her fingertips made their way beneath one of the box's two outer flaps, then pulled said flap back. Rising, Saten tossed open those other three which partially obscured her view of that which was held within.

Her eyelids widened, and she stumbled backward.

"W-W…W…?"

"Saten-san? What's inside?"

Uiharu peered within, and experienced a similar reaction. She fell back onto the bench from which she'd risen, her eyelids widened, her pupils dilated.

"I-It's SPACE?!"

"Not _just_ space," the Beyonder clarified, "it's an entire omniverse! Just made it myself! Nothing's living in there – yet – but I could easily populate its multiverses with all sorts of wonderous things! In fact, I would, if I weren't going to just destroy it all."

"B-But how?!" Uiharu cried, taking another look within the box; Saten recovered, if only slightly, from her initial shock and too peered inside.

"I'm omnipotent! There's nothing I can't do!" was the Beyonder's answer. With a flick of his wrist, the box was gone; Saten and Uiharu were left staring at their guest's open palm.

The schoolgirls exchanged glances. Both seemed to have the same idea in mind; one much, much more than the other.

Saten placed either of her hands on her guest's shoulders, leaned in close to his face – so close that their noses nearly touched – and proclaimed, then, "s-sir! My name is Saten Ruiko! I need your help."

"With? The One from Beyond is here to do just that!"

"P-Please h-help me get my ability working! I've tried, and tried, and tried! I've been working so hard at it, but nothing ever seems to happen…"

The Beyonder's brief combing over of this multiverse had enlightened him to such matters. These 'abilities', manifested by neurologically modified human beings known as 'espers' – beings not unlike those that were known as 'mutants' in another multiverse he'd visited many decades before – were their wielders' pride and joy.

Of course, there were those who were defective. 'Level zero'. Those who manifested no powers whatsoever.

And what a shame it must have been! To live in a place such as this city-state, Academy City, witnessing all of those around who wielded supernatural powers, bending their own minds' 'personal realities' to their whims… And having no such capabilities. Why, it was akin to being cuckolded.

"The Beyonder is here! Fear no more!" he remarked, before focusing deeply, staring into Saten's wide, curious blue eyes.

There was a flash in his own; and in a fraction of a microsecond, Saten Ruiko experienced a sudden surge within her body. She felt her entire brain re-arranged itself, neural pathways rerouting, liquids flowing in a new, alternate way to accommodate the sudden, forced changes.

She seemed to know exactly what to do, despite only ever having wielded her own inborn, if ineffective and stunted, esper ability once before, while under the effects of the Level Upper.

She thrust her arms upwards, palms extended to the sky; and from them emerged enormous, whipping bursts of gale-force winds. So powerful was Ruiko's display that entire school districts were ripped from their foundations, structures tossed about wildly like the playthings of some overexcited child throwing her toys.

Saten Ruiko had achieved level five.

Saten Ruiko, the level five Aero Hand user.

Instantly, all that was devastated, or otherwise completely obliterated by Ruiko's unexpected outburst of psychic power, was restored to the state in which it had been prior. The Beyonder had merely raised a finger to do so.

"T-This is… S-So much… So much POWER!"

She shook wildly, nearly falling to her knees before she was caught by her doting friend. Uiharu held the girl aloft, supporting Ruiko's weight as best she could with her arms.

"What level is she?!" Uiharu excitedly asked, helping her shuddering friend back to her bench. Unconsciously, Ruiko's long, black hair seemed to blow about, as if buffeted by a breeze. Despite the fact that the day was entirely still. The breeze was generated by her newfound esper ability, entirely localized to her own body.

"Hm? The highest level there is," the Beyonder responded as if nothing out of the ordinary had at all happened. "Well, almost. If I'd given her the abilities of a 'level six', the entire planet would've been wracked by windstorms so powerful that Japan would have ended up floating off into space!"

"I-I would've been totally fine with even a l-level one ability! B-But this…"

Ruiko stared down at her hands; her own focus, her very will, seemed to conjure small gusts of cool, refreshing air localized entirely to her own hands. She had perfect, flawless control over it; sure, she'd practiced all the theory. Sure, she'd studied, and completed her research, and took her notes, but she'd never properly wielded an esper ability, not for any length of time worth considering.

Yet, here she was – just an hour before this, Saten Ruiko had been a 'defective' level zero. A failure. Here she was, now, wielding the power of a level five.

"Uiharu! This is… Waaaaaiiittttt… Uiharu!"

A gust of wind formed beneath the girl with the flower headband, forcing her skirt to flutter about in the air as it was pushed upward.

"Hmm. Orange today? Matches your socks, but I… I don't know about this one. Orange just isn't your color."

" **SATEN-SAN**! Plleeaaasseeeee!"

Momentarily dumbfounded, the Beyonder broke out into hysterics not long after. What a sight. It wasn't particularly arousing to any extent – these girls were obviously children – but the simple act was such a violation of societal expectations that it deserves a round of applause. This 'Saten' was a girl after his own heart, truly.

"Ms. Uiharu! Is there anything _you'd_ like? I'd feel awful if I left without offering you my help!"

Flustered, but regaining her composure, the girl with the flower headband paused as she sat herself down on the bench, forcibly holding her knee-length skirt down over her legs, aiming to protect herself from further exposure by her closest, giggling friend.

"Seeing Saten-san finally have the ability she's always wanted is more than enough," the girl spoke. "She really has worked very hard for this."

"U-Uiharu! You'll make me blush!"

With an agreeing nod, the Beyonder returned to the skies with a wave, strutting his way up what might have seemed to an onlooker to have been an invisible set of stairs until he could view most of Academy City far beneath him.

Eventually, he'd come to view from his bird's eye view, in Academy City's twenty-first school district, **the** perfect site for the construction of his new turbomansion. This school district, virtually depopulated, was home to an enormous tower, which jutted high into the clouds above the city-state, surrounded by a vast, artificial lake whose glimmering surfaces seemed to only become more beautiful with each moment the One from Beyond looked upon them. The lake itself was dammed by an unsightly, metallic wall which spanned its perimeter.

"A geothermal power station," the Beyonder monologued to no one, folding his arms across his chest. "If I do anything funny with this, the City might lose power. Well, not if I power it all myself, instead!"

The Beyonder willed it, and Academy City no longer relied upon the Earth for its energy. Every smartphone plugged into a wall socket, every apartment complex, every student dormitory, every structure, every vehicle, was instantly and eternally powered by the Beyonder's own, unlimited power.

Descending, the One from Beyond simply gripped the tower with a single hand, and, so omnipotent was he, threw it into space. The tower passed through Sol, Earth's solar system, several dimensions, and eventually departed from the multiverse altogether, such was the strength of the Beyonder's casual toss.

"Aaaaand there goes that unsightly tower! What a relief. Good thing I knew beforehand that it was an unmanned station; that was a real eyesore, no harm, no foul. Glad it's gone. Now, I can finally get underway! It's turbomansion time!"

Where Ground Geo's mighty tower had once stood, the Beyonder constructed from nothing but his own will in its place an enormous, towering structure that was exactly as his omnipotent mind had imagined it. A monolithic mansion which was made up of smaller mansions.

Each was connected to the other with a grand, spiralling staircase; every individual room was furnished with exactly what the One from Beyond would need to enjoy his time in this multiverse. Spa rooms, entire rooms filled with the most up-to-date fashion, entertainment rooms with the most advanced technology, including videogame consoles and television sets, several private theaters, numerous fast food restaurants which needed no employees to serve delicious junk food, and, above all else, an expansive swimming pool upon the turbomansion's roof.

"Home sweet home!" The Beyonder proclaimed before stepping in, slamming the door behind him.

* * *

"There is breaking news now. We've received information, live from our reporters in the field, coming from school district twenty-one. An unidentified anomalous occurrence has caused the operations hub of Ground Geo – one of Academy City's geothermal power stations – to be forcibly removed from the Earth's atmosphere entirely.

"Satellite imagery has captured the tower apparently breaking the laws of gravity, tumbling through outer space with no signs of slowing down. Anti-Skill has declined to speak on the matter, but informed our reporters in the field that a full sweep of the area will be performed. We—"

The newswoman stopped speaking, and was immediately handed a new script by someone who remained mostly off-camera, exposing only their arm, clad in a suit jacker's sleeve. Despite being live, on the air, she attempted to adjusted herself accordingly and proceed as if nothing out of the ordinary at all had occurred. She cleared her throat, and began to skillfully read from her new script, showing no signs of her professional façade's weakening.

"There is more breaking news. Footage shows a structure of unknown origin being anomalously constructed on the site of Ground Geo – one of Academy City's geothermal power plants. Anti-Skill is now advising all citizens to avoid school district twenty-one until further notice."

Kamijou's pencil broke beneath the force his hand suddenly applied to the paper beneath it. Lead scattered in all directions; the shards so small that they would be impossible to find.

"Such misfortune."

Just as he was about to re-sharpen the writing device, he found his shirt sleeve being tugged on by a certain, silver-haired little nun.

"Touma, Touma!"

"Oi, Index! I'm doing homework here!"

"Touuu-maaa! It's important! Someone threw away some power plant's tower and built a huge mansion where it used to be."

Nearly biting into his own lip, the spikey-haired boy rested his forehead in the palm of his hands.

"It never ends. It never, ever ends. This Kamijou-san will never just have a normal life."

Sighing, he threw his hands into the air, rose, and grumbled, mostly to himself.

"Index, it's probably just that 'Beyonder' making a ruckus. If he's not hurting anybody, I don't care. I couldn't possibly care what he gets up to. If you find out he's hurting people, come get me. Otherwise, I really, **really** don't care."

Index nodded.

"Okay, Touma."

"W-Wait, really? Just like that? You're going to accept that half-hearted answer?!"

"Yep!"

"SUCH FORTUNE!"

* * *

Meanwhile, in a certain dorm's bathroom, a once-Magic God soaked her entirely naked body in a tub full of warm, refreshing water, her body obscured by the presence of a thick layer of bubble bath, which had foamed into a protruding mass of floating, bubbly film.

For hours, she'd laid there in that bathtub. Thinking. Contemplating.

Had she really been persuaded so easily? For millions of years, Othinus had plotted. She'd hatched plots within plots. She'd abandoned all that she'd ever known, achieved the status of Magic God, put her plans into motion, deceived people, used people and then threw them away once she was through with them, their usefulness expunged.

She'd held victory, the culmination of her efforts – Gungnir, the Lance of the All-Father – in the palm of her hand. She'd nearly done it. She'd nearly rebuilt this flawed universe.

And it had all been taken from her in one, swift motion.

Perhaps, truthfully, it had been a humbling experience. Not only to be so easily cowed, but to have witnessed a truly supreme being. A being who possessed enough power within a singular microbe of his body to rival all of the power of this entire multiverse, and everything in it, herself included. **Even** when she'd held Gungnir.

And, then, there was that boy. That spikey-haired boy whose bathroom she now casually lounged in.

How? How had he so easily understood? How had he so effortlessly found her aims agreeable, if, by his own definition of the term, morally dark? He'd found common ground with her, when so many others had rejected her. Called her a lunatic, a villain, a monster.

This boy had never hurled such accusations at her. He'd never called her evil. He never insulted her, but merely challenged her core beliefs themselves.

And he'd explained his own. She'd realized how they contrasted with hers.

He might not have agreed – and she hadn't expected that he would have – but he understood. He, simply, understood.

Maybe that's all Othinus had ever needed. An Understander. Had millions of years truly culminated in **this**?

" _The tapestry of the fates, an unpredictable element."_

She hoped for peace. She hoped for integration. She hoped for acceptance. Most of all, she hoped for a continued understanding with this boy. Their few hours together, exchanging thoughts, trading ideals and occasionally coming to verbal blows over their differences, it seemed, had made an eternity of difference.

" _If I'd sought mutual understanding before this madness unfolded, would all of this have been prevented, the future undone? I held godhood and now find it wanting."_

The more she thought, the more she conceived of the massive, colossal failure that had been her existence up until this point, the once-Magic God felt a single, warm tear drip down her cheek. Beneath her functioning eye.

With each passing moment, regret seemed to take hold of her heart and soul, churning within her. It had dug a knife deep into her flesh, and now, regret was twisting it.

She'd never stopped before. She hadn't given herself a chance to regret. She'd forced that part of her back, deep into the recesses of her most primal mind.

And now, it surged forth, the floodgates lifted. There was no force in any multiverse that could stop this.

Sinking into the tub, allowing the warm, refreshing water to collect her freely-falling tears, the once-Magic God had found herself reduced to swiftly inhaling, struggling to reseal the Pandora's Box of emotions she'd opened.

"I regret it all."

* * *

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

It was like a droning, rhythmic drumming. This was born of no musical instrument; instead, it was born of Kamijou Touma repeatedly banging his head against the edge of his coffee table. He'd been sitting, cramped, for nearly four hours.

"I can't… Figure… This… Out. I'll flunk this assignment, and then what? Komoe-sensei will cry! And then… Fukiyose…"

He shivered. Kamijou could almost feel the iron wall girl's fist pounding into his gut, robbing him of oxygen and leaving him in a heap upon the classroom floor, heaving.

"SUCH! MISFORTUNE!"

Then, a surprise. A can of soda had been placed next to him, nearby his wrinkled papers.

Looking up, the boy's gaze met the surprisingly, almost unnervingly warm smile of the silver-haired little nun, Index. She knelt beside him, placing either of her hands politely in her lap.

"I saw you were having a hard time, so I got this for you, Touma!"

He twitched. What was going on? Had he drifted into some alternate dimension? Was that 'Beyonder' playing a trick on him? This simply wasn't a natural occurrence. Index was a hindrance. A minor annoyance at best and a violent, biting, rabid creature at worst.

Yet, here she was, smiling up at him with this innocent smile, and a red blush upon her cheeks.

"… I already made you dinner, Index. Don't tell me you're hungry again."

"Nope!"

"Yes, yes, this Kamijou-san is terribly grateful for your kindness, Index-sama. Yada, yada. Alright, now, really: what do you want?"

"Nothing! Just to spend time with you, Touma!"

The little nun wrapped either of her arms around her guardian's own, and squeezed tightly upon it; she rested the side of her head against his arm, and nuzzled close.

Oddly, Index's unnerving affection did have the added effect of calming his nerves, slightly. His heartrate slowed, returning to a healthy pace, and the repeated thudding emerging from his pulse subsided, returning to its own natural, healthy state.

Suddenly, the answer he needed came to him; Touma recalled Komoe-sensei discussing the topic, referred to the notes he'd taken, and finally, **finally** , wrote down the correct answer.

"Only six more pages to GOOOooooo—such misfortune."

Moving onto the next problem, he took a sip from the can of soda. One of his favorites. Perfectly average, ordinary, unassuming cola. Bargain variety. Twice the sugar and caffeine, a quarter of the price, when compared to Academy City's brand names.

"This is really good! Thanks, Index…?"

This was all so very strange. For the moment, Kamijou simply accepted it as it was.

"You're welcome, Touma!"

" _What is WITH her?! As soon as I get a moment, I'm getting to the bottom of this."_

* * *

"Must've taken a whole load of **GUTS** to toss Ground Geo's tower into space, and even more guts to build up something like this!"

A spikey-haired boy, arms folded across his chest, wore his modified white uniform's jacket like a cape over his shoulders, a styling that would've been right at home in a superhero comic book. With his white headband wrapped around his head, and his Rising Sun shirt exposed, the boy thrust his fist into the air; the act created a show of multicolored fireworks, exploding in all directions.

"But my **GUTS** will prove superior in the end! Now, show yourself, hero or villain! A trading of blows is definitely in order!"

No answer came; but the reverberating pounding of loud music originating from within the 'turbomansion', which stood hundreds of meters tall was the only answer this boy truly needed.

He promptly rushed forward and burst through the elegant, ornately-designed doorway, rushing up a set of equally elegant and extravagant set of stairs in but a few seconds' time.

"Come on out! Show me your **GUTS!** "

And, so, the Beyonder did just that…


	5. Academy City VS The Beyonder - II

"Come on out! Show me your GUTS!"

Sogiita Gunha had crashed through a solid wood, and brought down several walls. He'd left a disaster within this towering, extravagant mansion made of smaller, equally extravagant mansions. Entire rooms had been trashed, pieces of furniture and other household amenities left completely broken.

"Woah! No need for violence!"

Sogiita hadn't even sensed him, hadn't even noticed him in any way, shape or form. The firm grip that soon fell upon the seventh ranked level five's shoulder was one which he did not, in any way, see coming.

Spinning forcefully, Gunha raised his fists, a confident, his lips curled upward into a confident, cocky sneer.

"Impressive stuff you've done here. Must have taken a lot of GUTS! I can almost feel your GUTS from here."

"You'll make me blush!" came the Beyonder. "Sit down, chum! We'll talk this out like men."

"Can't! You destroyed public property! I might have respect for you and your GUTS, but as a protector of Academy City, I can't let this slide. Now, show me your GU—"

" **Sit**. **Down**."

A luxurious, leather-bound sofa formed from nothingness behind Sogiita Gunha; obliging, he seated himself upon it, as if his very body was being compelled by forces beyond his control. He hadn't lost his mind, nor was he experiencing an override of his mental faculties.

" _It's like someone else is doing my actions for me… What kind of GUTS are these?!"_

"There. Now, isn't this much better than all that fighting? Have a soda from the nineties. It's still fresh!"

From nothingness, the Beyonder pulled a freezing cold, steaming can of soda – it was, in fact, styled exactly like those cans which were circulated throughout Japan in the nineteen nineties – and offered it to the sofa-bound Sogiita Gunha.

Lacking any means of actively rising, or otherwise denying his evident host, Gunha took the can, clicked its top open, and drank from it.

His eyes sparkled. His taste buds were struck by the most succulent, simply delicious taste they'd ever experienced. It was a sensation akin to a pleasurable orgasm, a sort of halcyon dream.

"Now, chum, let's have ourselves an **important** talk."

Pulling his own sofa from thin air – and repairing the damage done to his turbomansion by Sogiita Gunha's forceful intrusion in the process – the Beyonder laid himself out, resting the back of his head against an ornately-decorated, feather-stuffed pillow.

"Why'd you do it, pal? Why'd you come, barging into my home like that? I'm not bothering anyone! I moved out here, far away from everyone else, so I can live however I please, without bothering a soul! I want to crank my tunes, and host the wildest parties this multiverse has ever seen! I can't do that with neighbors! Not in good conscience, I couldn't."

Continuing, the Beyonder remarked, "I'm not mad at 'cha! I've been doing everything I can to keep my temper in check! Really. All I'd like is an explanation!"

"You destroyed public property with your GUTS! Impressive, but illegal! Actually, I'm still not sure how Academy City is even functioning."

"Because of me," the Beyonder clarified. "I'm powering it all myself. I could actually support the entire multiverse's renewable resource needs with less than a single microbe of my power!"

Sogiita Gunha raised an eyebrow at that. 'Multiverse'? What was this kook talking about?

"You seem to believe yourself to be filled with GUTS! I don't have a reason to disbelieve you! But what you did was, and is, illegal. No matter how much GUTS you might have, you can't violate the law!"

Scratching at his chin, the One from Beyond briefly descended into thought.

"You're **really** hung up on what I did with that tower. Does it upset you that much, pal? I'm really sorry! I suppose I just wasn't thinking when I threw it away. It was unsightly, and in my road! I needed this space to make my new home, see!"

Leaping upward, the One from Beyond released Sogiita Gunha from whatever forceful submission the spikey-haired hero had been placed under. Quickly jumping to his feet in response – and finishing his can of soda – Gunha placed either of his hands, balled into fists, against his hips, and stared the Beyonder in the eye.

"I say we engage in an Olympic contest of strength!" Gunha thrust a single fist into the air; several explosions ripped through the air around him, multicolored bursts accentuating his action. "Show each other what our GUTS are capable of! If _my_ GUTS win, you bring back Ground Geo, and put it right back where it's supposed to go. If _your_ GUTS win, I'll leave without another word. On my honor!"

The Beyonder sneered, and, with a silent nod intended to mark his agreement to the terms, casually strutted forward, intending to meet Sogiita head-on.

Gunha adjusted his jacket, fastened around his shoulders like a flowing, heroic cloak, and similarly approached his opponent.

The seventh ranked level five threw a punch. Such force was behind it that the very space around him seemed to experience a sudden, unnatural rending. The world around Sogiita Gunha 'bled', as multicolored bursts of smoke-like plumes surged outwards from his back. Electricity crackled around him. The sounds of a million exploding suns rocked the turbomansion.

… The Beyonder merely caught the hook in the palm of his hand. All momentum was robbed from Attack Crash, who nearly stumbled.

"W-What kind of GUTS ARE **THESE**?! What sort of gutsy powers do you even HAVE?!"

"I'm a guy who's basically omnipotent! Nothing you can imagine is impossible for me."

Gunha couldn't so much as move a single muscle. He could blink, sallow, lick his lips; but moving his arms and legs seemed like an impossibility, as if such a thing was some Herculean task.

To demonstrate the vast, unquantifiable power he possessed, the Beyonder clicked his fingers, as casually as one might have while dancing to a particularly catchy jazz track. Sogiita Gunha was reduced to a wriggling earthworm, squirming upon the carpet.

Another click, and Sogiita Gunha was an asteroid. A massive, fiery mass of space debris. An impossibly large thing, hurdling towards a planet much like that on which he'd once resided… In fact, he was hurdling straight towards Earth. An Earth of the past. Sogiita Gunha had become the asteroid which doomed the dinosaurs. Another, simple click; Gunha became a supermassive black hole, consuming entire dimensions.

And in less than a microsecond, he was returned to his full, unharmed body. Eyelids widened, mouth agape. He stuttered, choking on his words. Uncountable epochs had passed, in the time it would have taken him to blink; and yet all seemed to be as it should have been.

"You win."

"I figured you'd end up seeing things my way!" the Beyonder remarked with a chuckle. He patted the mentally traumatized boy on the shoulder several times, ruffled his hair, and then sent him on his way, escorting him gently out from the turbomansion. "Good-bye! See you around, some other time! Now! Time to relax, kick back, and enjoy some 'Days of Our Lives'! I have to catch up!"

Plopping himself down upon the sofa he'd conjured from nothingness, the Beyonder manifested a remote control and a seventy-five-inch flatscreen television, hanging upon the nearby wall. Requiring no Internet nor cable connection, he merely _wished_ to see an episode of the show he sought to watch, and it was so.

"You deserve a break, Frank."

* * *

" _I feel completely out of my element… Such misfortune."_

It was December 1st. Several days had passed, since the day on which that white-clad man, 'the Beyonder', had arrived. His Ground Geo stunt notwithstanding, that 'Beyonder' hadn't since acted. Not in any way that a certain spikey-haired high school boy could perceive.

How had he ended up like this? Kamijou might as well have been a fish, flopping hopelessly on a dock, struggling to breathe as his scales were fried beneath the intensity of the sun. This clothing shop – one which exclusively sold women's fashion – was his dock, and the various women eyeing him as he walked up and down the aisles were his fishermen, gawking at their catch.

He'd never really liked the Dianoid in the first place. Now, he found himself liking Academy City's overcrowded temple to consumerism even less. As if such a thing was at all possible.

"Touma, Touma! Do you like this one?!"

"E-Eh? Index, it's fine. Othi-chan? What do you think?"

"… I told you not to call me that, human. Must I repeat myself yet again?"

"Sorry, sorry… Such misfortune."

At the very least, the former Magic God seemed more overtly fond of Kamijou's charge, his very own little silver-haired nun. They seemed to be bonding far quicker than he'd ever anticipated.

Of course, this only meant trouble. They'd likely end up teaming up, ganging up on him.

" _Such… Misfortune…"_

"Othinus-san? What about THIS one?"

"I'm not so fond of bright colours, nun."

Undiscouraged, Index merely returned the shirt to the rack from whence she'd lifted it. Carefully ensuring it was as wrinkle-free as possible, she soon picked out another, and held the piece of clothing aloft like a trophy.

"This one's darker!"

Was this **really** what the mighty Magic God Othinus had been reduced to? Less than twenty-four hours ago, she'd held total universal power in the palm of her hand. Total, absolute control over an entire, infinitely-expanding universe, and all of the galaxies within it.

Now she was shopping. In a mall. With an overexcited nun.

" _And yet, I don't particularly_ _ **mind**_ _this. Strange, the fates are."_

Realizing she was intended to answer a question asked of her, Othinus examined the shirt, still held aloft by Index. Simplistic enough, not plastered in brand names. Short-sleeved, its relatively short overall length would expose a bit of her naval.

"This will do. Thank you, nun."

"No problem! Himegami-san and me shop here all the time, when Tou-ma is being a stick in the mud and won't come."

"… Who?"

"My friend. You'll have to meet her!"

"I suppose."

Othinus should have hated this. She should have felt patronized, somehow made lesser. She should have felt mocked by the multiverse, parodied by the fates. Somehow, such feelings didn't come to her.

Instead, it was a sort of acceptance. An acceptance not only of her exceedingly queer circumstances, but, an acceptance by others. The sense of her company being enjoyed. The sense that she was valued, on some level. Considered important.

"Index!"

Ripped from her musings, the former Magic God looked up from the polished, wooden flooring of the clothing store beneath her feet – apparently, she'd cast her gaze downward at some point – and looked up.

"They're SOOOOOOOOO fashionable! Touma, Touma! They'd look GREAT on Othinus-san!"

"These shorts looks like something a prostitute would wear. Apologize!"

"Your head's in the gutter, Touma! In fact, why are you thinking such sinful thoughts in the first place? Do I need to help you repent again?"

"N-NO! Absolutely not… W-WAIT! Was that a threat?!"

"Are you scared, Touma? Are you _scared_?!"

"I'll show you, you brat!"

Othinus giggled.

She nearly slapped a hand to her mouth, as if she'd engaged in some forbidden act, something not natural, not meant for this world. She couldn't take it back, not now. Not ever. That soft, melodic chuckle had escaped from between her lips.

" _I do hope no one heard that. How uncouth of me."_

Still, the sight was too much to behold. The little silver-haired nun tormented the boy who, supposedly, acted as her guardian; an outsider looking in likely wouldn't believe that, given that he was presently attempting to chop the top of his 'charge's' head – karate style.

"Actually, I would like to try those on."

Touma and Index came to a sudden halt.

"I knew you would, Othinus-san! Unlike Touma the Loser, you have a sense of style!"

"N-No way…"

The former Magic God tilted her head to one side, and blinked her single, visible eye.

"The both of you are odd."

* * *

A familiar sound rang out; though she was spread out, totally vulnerable and clad only in her pajamas, Academy City's third ranked level five, 'the Railgun', wasn't particularly concerned. Her intruder was a familiar one. Her short, chestnut brown hair seemed to be buffeted about by the feedback from the intrusion.

"Welcome back," Misaka Mikoto called out, rolling onto her side and setting her phone, held tightly and snuggly in its rubber Gekota-themed case down upon her bed. "What kept you, Kuroko?"

"Thank you, onee-sama!"

Proudly approaching her beloved one, Shirai Kuroko, the level four teleporter girl who proudly called herself a member of Academy City's 'Judgment', removed the red ribbons holding her hair aloft in twintails dangling from either side of her head.

Clad in Tokiwadai Middle School's winter uniform, Kuroko stripped away her jacket, and practically threw herself down upon her bed, which was only some few feet from Mikoto's own.

"What kept you?"

"Judgement business, onee-sama." The girl's expression turned from one of upmost joy to one of solemn realization. "We'd been receiving reports, all day really, that Sogiita-san – the seventh, though I know you're aware – was wandering about, acting strangely."

Mikoto shrugged indifferently. "Him? He's always doing weird stuff. Why was Judgment called for that?"

"Onee-sama… When he'd found him, he was… Seated on a bench in the seventh school district. Muttering to himself. Things such as "nothing matters", or "we're all nothing". He's completely despondent. That frog doctor's hospital's mental health ward is currently looking after him."

The Railgun's eyelids shot open.

"Is he… Is he going to be okay?! He can be annoying, but… But Sogiita-san is a good person, deep down. What could have happened?"

It was Kuroko's turn to shrug.

"Judgment currently has some cause to believe that an unknown individual might be targeting level fives. Less than a week ago, the fourth strongest went missing without a trace."

Mikoto wasn't nearly as saddened to hear that bit of news.

"Be on the lookout, onee-sama. Judgment doesn't have any way of confirming that suspicion, but it has happened in the past, and could be happening again. Not that I don't believe you could completely destroy anyone who ever tried to so much as challenge you!"

If only that were true. Kuroko still didn't know, did she? About the Sisters? About Accelerator? She'd have lost that fight – and her very life – if not for another friend she held dear in her heart. He was no esper at all. 'Defective'. A level zero. But he wielded the courage of a living god.

Though the night had settled over Academy City, Misaka Mikoto suddenly didn't find herself in the mood to sleep. Her mind was running again; it wasn't Kuroko's fault. She had no idea what sort of proverbial closet door she'd just accidentally opened in her onee-sama's mind, allowing so much equally metaphorical baggage to come tumbling out.

"Kuroko. I think I'm going to take a walk. You coming?"

"I should really freshen myself up… For you, tonight, onee-sama!"

"K-Kuroko…"

A vein throbbed in her forehead. Gritting her teeth, Mikoto felt the electricity leaping from her freely. Clenching her fists, she spoke from between clenched teeth.

"I'm getting re-dressed! Don't you dare try and spy on me!"

In the end, Kuroko had tried her luck; she'd teleported herself into their shared dorm's bathroom. While Mikoto was entirely stark-naked. The few seconds of groping the teleporter had achieved were more than worth the subsequent voltage her body was exposed to, at least in her mind.

"ONEE-SAMA'S WHIPS OF LOOOVEEEEE!" a fried, smoking Shirai Kuroko babbled as an enraged, grumbling Misaka Mikoto stormed out from their dorm, slamming the door behind her, completely unthinking of the consequences that performing such an act at this late hour could incur upon her.

Stomping down several staircases to reach the elegant, furnished and sparklingly cleanly ground floor of Tokiwadai Dormitory, an open-concept, lavishly decorated lobby which could accommodate a great many students – the majority of whom were sound asleep in their dorms' beds at this hour – Misaka Mikoto only found her luck worsening, as she descended the final staircase, and entered the lobby proper.

"Ugh."

"Well, well~! Hello there, Misaka-san. Fancy seeing you here."

As if this night couldn't become any more aggravating.

"Hello, Shokuhou."

It took all of her strength not to throw up in her mouth. Mikoto rolled her eyes, and folded her arms across her chest.

The girl who stood across from her, nearby the entranceway doors which lead out from the Tokiwadai Dormitory, exuded a sickeningly sweet honey scent, one which seemed to perpetually assault Mikoto's nostrils. The girl's long, sumptuous, golden-blonde hair fell past her posterior, and split in the center partway up, creating two extravagant endings. Her sparkling, golden-brown eyes met with Mikoto's own brown irises. Within either rested a large, glimmering four-pointed star.

For once, Tokiwadai's Queen _hadn't_ garbed herself in her school's uniform. Rather, she wore a loose-fitting, white shoulderless blouse, which was tucked into a tight-fitting, knee-length blue skirt. Though she wore her trademark white gloves, complete with their spiderweb patterns at their ends, she hadn't worn her thigh-high stockings.

" _W-Why would a detail like that stand out to me? I don't even care what Shokuhou wears!"_

"What are _you_ all dolled up for? There's curfew, you know."

The starry-eyed girl shrugged her bare shoulders, and flashed an apparently knowing wink in her rival's direction. Fifth ranked level five esper, Shokuhou Misaki, smiled.

"Are you certain that's your business, Misaka-san? I could've sworn it wasn't…"

She sighed, and brushed her elegant bangs aside with her hand. Mikoto could've slapped her, right across the face.

"If you must know, I'm waiting for my boyfriend."

"Send him my condolences."

That seemed to strike some genuine nerve in the starry-eyed girl. She shot her third ranked rival a glare which made even her shrink, slightly, if momentarily.

"Do watch your mouth. Flapping your gums incessantly is very unbecoming. Of course, what would a tomboyish blackguard such as yourself know about being ladylike, or at all likeable? Hm?"

"I'm out of here, Shokuhou. Enjoy your date."

"That would be for the best. Farewell, and goodbye, Misaka-san. And, thank you. I shall~."

* * *

Security footage had been analyzed. Originating from camera, from the UNDER_LINE security network that existed invisibly throughout Academy City's border-walls, from any source. Even footage captured by civilian cellphones was harvested.

Academy City's Board of Directors had come to a decision. Even the hesitant Kaizumi Tsugutoshi had come to agree with his fellow, sitting Board members.

Something, _anything,_ had to be done about this otherworldly invader who now seemed to have called THEIR bastion of science, THEIR world of technological advancement, his home. So brazenly had he destroyed their property, so thoughtlessly had he broken one of their level fives and obviously killed another.

If not destroyed, he would need to be taught a lesson. He would need to know that Academy City would not sit idly by while he galivanted, and played God in THEIR world.

With the Chairman's approval, the order was confirmed.

E-mails containing kill orders were dispersed to every functional, living level five esper in Academy City. The Accelerator. Dark Matter. The Railgun. Mental Out. **That** one, 'the Sixth'.

Minutes passed.

In a certain apartment complex, located in a certain part of Academy City's eighth school district known only as 'Family Side', a certain long, white-haired, red-eyed, pallid albino groggily tapped his cellphone's touch screen, navigating through his e-mail app to view the new, 'URGENT' message which had just arrived. The bleeping of the notification, having awoken him, already left the grumbling albino in a particularly foul mood.

"Tsch. What the hell is this? What could they want?"

" _The safety of Academy City, and all of its citizens, has been irreparably compromised. You, level five ACCELERATOR, have been called upon to act. Refusal to comply will be met with considerable reprisal and an immediate, total freezing of your stipend._

" _You are to proceed as soon as achievably possible to school district twenty-one. The anomalous structure presently replacing thermonuclear power station 'Ground Geo' represents your target._

" _\- Academy City Board of Directors."_

He snarled aloud, rising with some effort from his place of slumber – a worn-out sofa in his benefactor's Family Side apartment. The Accelerator, not merely Academy City's strongest esper, but the _world_ 's strongest esper, haphazardly slipped his winter coat over his arms, zipped the warmth-providing article of clothing up, shook himself to adjust its fit, and grabbed his crutch. The familiar feeling of his fingers wrapping around the temperately cool, curved and padded handle of the walking aid provided some meager stability, both physically and emotionally.

" _Fine. Let's get this ridiculous shit done."_


	6. Academy City VS The Beyonder - III

Evidently, Accelerator hadn't been the only level five to have received that sort of e-mail from Academy City's Board of Directors.

Performing what could only be described as reconnaissance, given that they were attempting to keep low to the ground, and partially obscured by a fairly large, nondescript structure located not too far at all from the now-occupied plot of land where Ground Geo had once stood, there was the third-string, that replacement second-string, and, perhaps most oddly, someone even he, Academy City's mightiest, had never seen before.

Whoever this newcomer was, he stood out like a sort thumb; even more so than the purely white replacement of the formerly second ranked level five esper, Kakine Teitoku. The newcomer had apparently decided that this occasion was worth dressing up over; a tight-fitting, unwrinkled tuxedo and proper dress shoes with pointed tips adorned his body. Most curious were the piercings within his ears' lobes, and the full, messy mop of bright blue hair which seemed to sag down from the top of his head, a slight, natural curl to its endings. His eyes were closed, tight.

"But, Mikoto-chan! If we just knock, we can settle this faster! I was playing _Magical Girl Eroge Harem Collector 2_ before I got that stupid message! I wanna go baaaaaaaaack!"

"Shut… UP!"

The pure white, glimmering Kakine Teitoku was the first to realize Accelerator's arrival on the scene; the second ranked level five acknowledged his superior with a nod.

"Accelerator-san has arrived. The time for waiting has passed, now."

Misaka Mikoto seemed to start, slightly. _His_ arrival, while expected, wasn't particularly welcomed. She'd do what she could to make this whole mess a bit less complicated than it could possibly become.

"While we were awaiting your coming," Teitoku remarked softly, in a respectful tone of voice Accelerator never could have possibly imagined **ever** coming from the first one's mouth, "Misaka-san, Aihana-san, and myself devised a stratagem based on the applications of our abilities, given that this situation is, effectively, a siege."

" _Aihana? As in… "Aihana Etsu"? As in… the sixth-string? No fucking way. THAT's him? Fuck off."_

"Whatever it might be," Accelerator snarled, "keep it to yourself. I have my own way of dealing with garbage like this. Stand back and let me work."

Accelerator's finger found its way to his choker; its built-in LED flashed from red to a bright, glaring green as he pressed down on a small button located at the frontal face of the device. It produced a bleep, to announce the successful change from 'passive' mode to 'esper' mode.

Dropping his crutch nearby his fellow level fives, Accelerator was off; he'd leapt into the air, manipulating the very vectors of his own body's gravitational pull. He surged forward, calculating every necessary component he needed to adjust his body's travel speed, with the computational aid of the ever-loyal MISAKA Network.

That ugly eyesore, whatever it was intended to be – it resembled a colossal mansion, only formed primarily from smaller, interconnected mansions – would come crumbling down. He'd make sure of it. Did he care? Not particularly. Were it up to him, Accelerator wouldn't even have woken up at all this night; but the fact of the matter was, there were livelihoods at stake; particularly, Last Order's, and Worst's.

Even if they were annoying brats, they were _his_ annoying brats. _His_ responsibility. His stipend from Academy City provided for them both.

Accelerator forced his body downward, calculating the required fields to accommodate for a blow with such force that it would be the equivalent of several Tsar Bombs. He had the vectors. He had the means of manipulating them.

" _Grin and smile, you fucking dumbass. You've brought wrath down on yourself."_

From one of the eyesore's many, many windows, there was a massive jolt of energy; it barely fit between the window's pane, and seemed to struggle as it was forcibly ejected. Entirely white, with blots of churning, inky black darkness which could be spotted flowing within it, the energy struck Accelerator like a bolt of lightning.

His eyelids widened.

How?

His automatic reflection should've handled it. Even if the attack – if that even what this was to begin with – had exceeded his ability's capacity for automatic reflection, Accelerator should have, at the very least, been able to passively recognize whatever vectors were present. With enough tweaking, he could, theoretically, develop some sort of immunity to this.

But there were none. There simply were **no** vectors. This was in spite of the fact that the massive jolt of energy moved. It moved, yet it lacked vectors.

If his head hadn't already been spinning, it would have begun spinning.

Suddenly, Accelerator found himself tumbling from the skies above, his limbs limp. His calculations did nothing.

Nothing, save for cause harmless bubbles to shoot outward from his body's exposed surfaces. The air pressure caused by Accelerator's sudden, unexpected plummeting popped the majority of them, but some among those bubbles managed to float off into the distance.

He tried, and tried, and tried. Accelerator screamed inside of his own head; part of that scream leaked from between his lips. It wouldn't work. He performed calculation after calculation, struggled in unison with a confounded MISAKA Network. Nothing. Nothing save more useless bubbles.

Before he could hit the pavement below and become a splattered mess of gore, Academy City's number one strongest esper found himself clutched in the protective arms of a pure white savior. Six, equally white angelic wings beat rapidly, emerging from his savior's back.

"Accelerator-san? Is all well? That didn't seem planned."

"Of course, it wasn't fucking planned! My FUCKING ABILITY ISN'T WORKING!"

Accelerator's savior cocked an eyebrow at that.

"Did your choker malfunction? Perhaps it needs repairs."

"The stupid choker is working. My fucking ability isn't. My calculations don't do a goddamn thing. I can calculate, and calculate, but…"

More bubbles emerged from Accelerator, harmlessly floating into the air.

Descending from on high, Kakine Teitoku caught a glimpse of the one who, in fact, was responsible for the total shutdown of Accelerator's esper ability, that which had made him the strongest there was. The responsible party emerged from the eyesore of a mansion-like structure resting now where Ground Geo had once rested.

Chiseled, overly masculine facial features. Protruding chin. Broad shoulders. Muscled limbs. A barrel chest. Clad fully in white, with a black, culturally outdated hairstyle. Teitoku recognized it from various magazines he'd voraciously read during his time as a giant, sentient beetle formed from anomalous Dark Matter, as a 'Jheri curl'. At the very least he could put a name to that ridiculously outdated hairdo.

"Nice try, you white rat!" the responsible party called out, his tone of voice a mocking, condescending one. "Saw you from several million lightyears away!"

"What the fuck did you just call me?!"

"You heard me, you skinny little white rat!"

Attempting to rush forward by manipulating the very gravitation pull of his body, starting from beneath the soles of his shoes, Accelerator wound up merely collapsing; he'd dashed onward, lacking the momentum or strength to hold himself aloft for much further than a singular awkward leap.

Bubbles flew out from his body.

"That's really all you had, wasn't it?" the Beyonder rhetorically inquired, strutting confidently down from the marvelous, ornately-carved staircase leading to his turbomansion's extravagant entranceway doors. "Without that power of yours – your ace in the hole – you're nothing at all! In fact, you're not even worth picking on anymore!"

The One from Beyond appeared above the prone Accelerator from nowhere, then, and stomped the number one strongest esper into the dirt with a single, well-placed foot crashing viciously into the back of his head.

Two jagged, pure white strands, laden with jutting, spiked edges upon their surfaces – so sharpened were these edges that they gleamed beneath the moonlight – wrapped themselves around the Beyonder's wrists.

Kakine Teitoku closed the distance between himself and the white-clad stranger in a heartbeat. His mighty, angelic wings beating behind him, spiked, pure white growths manifested outwards, emerging directly through either of his hands, protruding awkwardly from his palms.

"Misaka-san! Aihana-san! Shield yourselves at once!"

Dark Matter could replicate any form of matter in the known universe. It could create any feasible chemical reaction. It could act in any way it needed to, as dictated to it by the esper who produced it. Dark Matter's properties were blank slates waiting to be detailed and personalized.

Rather than something overtly destructive, a chemical reaction of forcefully contrived elements which could not possibly be controlled given their inherent expansive nature, such as the equivalent of a thermonuclear detonation, Kakine Teitoku instead looked higher, beyond the heavens.

Through the power of his own capacity for extraordinarily potent calculations, limitless physical capability not achievable by any flesh and blood human being, esper or otherwise, Teitoku created a localized collapsing of dimensions; a daring manipulation of multiversal metaphysics.

And, yet, when the cosmic dust cleared, the One from Beyond stood tall, unfazed.

"Puah!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands. "Not bad! That shot of yours could've slagged several entire dimensions!"

"… _Then how are you still standing?!"_

"Because, I'm omnipotent," the Beyonder stated clearly, startling Kakine, who'd sworn he hadn't said a word aloud. "Nothing you can imagine is impossible for me. There is no wish I can't grant! No feat too great! No challenge too difficult."

Releasing his own pent-up aggression, and sending a bolt of energy originating from his own Beyond Realm itself, the very omniverse he was the total, living sum of, Kakine Teitoku was struck down. His body warped, struggling to maintain its own existence. The One from Beyond hadn't intended to kill, and so he hadn't; with even the tiniest fraction of his power having been used to bring low Kakine Teitoku, that esper's very existence had entered a state of unparalleled peril.

The multiverse was having trouble keeping up with his body's current cosmic affliction.

"W-Wishes…?!"

Like some excited schoolgirl, Aihana Etsu, the sixth ranked level five esper in Academy City rushed towards the attacker who, so far, had neglected to target him. The blue-haired boy shoved his face into his attacker's own; if Etsu's eyes were capable of opening at all, he would have exchanged gazes with the One from Beyond directly, from mere inches away.

"You… You grant wishes?!"

"Pick a side and stay on it! I never was one to tolerate flip-flopping."

"If you can grant my wish to have a busty, dominant girlfriend in full maid play, I'll be on your side, all the way!"

"Your taste in women is atrocious. But granting such a wish is not beyond me. Nothing is!"

The last standing level five, Misaka Mikoto, who wasn't immediately prepared to jump ship and throw whatever obligations she had to her friends and family in Academy City overboard, swallowed hard.

She'd only ever heard rumours of the elusive Aihana Etsu; that shadowy, skulking figure who had become something of a living myth. If only Saten Ruiko knew that the figure behind one of her favourite urban legends was, in truth, a disgusting otaku pervert.

Regardless, if all was as it seemed, Aihana Etsu had become her enemy.

"How about a wager?"

Aihana Etsu nearly snuggled up to the Beyonder at that point. Obviously repulsed, the One from Beyond pushed Academy City's sixth ranked level five away. "Fight this last attacker of mine! Shoo her off, and I, the Beyonder, will grant your wish. Fail, and I will grant my **attacker** 's wish, instead!"

A devious-faced Aihana Etsu immediately turned his head to face the third ranked level five, who now found herself slowly stepping backward, electricity leaping from her body. She gritted her teeth in rage as a singular vein pulsated in the side of her head.

"Touch me, and I'll fry you inside out! PERVERT!" Mikoto screamed as loudly as she could.

"I'm so sorry, Mikoto-chan." Wiping a crocodile tear from beneath his perpetually-closed eye, Etsu flashed his fellow level five a shit-eating grin, and immediately lunged forward with supernatural strength the likes of which Mikoto had only previously seen demonstrated by Sogiita Gunha. "This is just the way it has to be. Full maid play comes first. I'll have to NTR you!"

"GO! TO! HELL!"

With as much power as she could possibly manifest, Misaka Mikoto dumped billions of volts of electricity directly into Aihana Etsu; the only time she'd ever unleashed such a payload prior was during her attempts at bringing low the Accelerator, when he'd been on his warpath.

"It hurts SO good! Mikoto-chan, you know JUST where to hurt me! J-Just a little bit lower, and you'll be zapping my prostate~!"

That sneering, drooling otaku pervert was about to slam a right hook directly into Misaka Mikoto's face. Though his tuxedo had been burnt to a crisp, and the majority of his hair had been singed away – including his eyebrows – billions of volts of electricity dumped directly into his body hadn't stopped him.

Mikoto didn't suffer the blow.

Instead, a sudden obstruction had absorbed it. That obstruction's head of full, unkempt snowy white hair was forced backward, his neck cracking; he was lifted from the ground, so forceful was Aihana Etsu's right hook.

The Accelerator, stripped of his power and left a weakened, useless husk, had taken the fall. Blood poured from his suddenly broken nose. He spat a wad of the stuff out from his mouth, onto the pavement below.

"Fucking sixth-string piece of garbage! What the fuck are you THINKING?!"

Spitting out another globule of crimson lifeblood, Accelerator wiped the sleeve of his winter coat across his broken nose, smearing crimson upon it.

"Get out of here, third-string. RUN! NOW! Get the fuck OUT!"

An unexpected turn of events. Inspired, the Beyonder raised a finger; Accelerator's power was returned to him. Saying nothing, the One from Beyond merely watched, his arms folded across his chest. Misaka Mikoto hadn't fled. Not yet. He raised an eyebrow at that; perhaps she would, yet, flee and fulfil his own expectations.

The freakish, cackling laughter that immediately escaped the number one strongest esper's lips frightened even him; yet he couldn't stop it.

"Do you feel that, sixth-string? Do you feel that electricity in the air? Seems as if my ability's working again! I'LL MAKE A LOVELY MESS OUT OF YOU!"

Despite his war cry, Accelerator merely jabbed the tip of his finger against the sixth strongest esper's forehead; of course, with an active, restored esper ability at his beck and call, the Accelerator easily sent Aihana Etsu hurtling off into the horizon. His destination? School district ten's landfill. Regardless, the sixth ranked level five would survive his fantastic journey.

Grunting, Accelerator turned to face Academy City's third strongest level five.

"Why the fuck didn't you run, third-string? The sixth-string was going to kick your fucking ass."

She didn't answer his question, not in the way he'd expected.

"W-Why did you…?"

"Forget it. I should know better than to expect a straight answer from you."

Shrugging his shoulders, the Beyonder turned on his heel and moved to return to his abode.

Not quite.

"Oi. Where the fuck do you think you're going? You're the one who caused all of this. Now, you'll answer for it. Who are you? WHAT are you?"

"You're one foul-mothed white rat!" was the Beyonder's response. "I suppose that's the end of my little wager. You beat my champion. Well, not _you_. I did. See, white rat – _I_ gave you back your powers! After I'd already taken them. No, I didn't 'turn them off', or 'disable' them – I took it all away. That's the power I hold! To reduce you to nothing, with a thought!"

To demonstrate his power, the Beyonder effortlessly warped reality. Past, present, and future flowed as unknowable, twisted beings from higher - and lower - dimensions passed harmlessly through their own third dimension. Pasts and presents from other worlds, other universes, other multiverses.

"Tsch."

There wasn't a lot he could do. Accelerator had known well enough what sort of attack the second-string had lobbed at this stranger; something he, himself, hadn't thought of, despite his total and absolute control over all vectors. That attack, by his own mathematical calculations had possessed enough raw, chaotic power to obliterate dimensions. Several of them. The stranger had already stated as much; yet, he still stood. Perfectly unharmed. Not even his clothing was ruffled.

A direct attack even from Academy City's number one strongest esper, simply wouldn't cut it. Vectors or no vectors, this enemy was one who existed so inconceivably far beyond his own capabilities. To challenge this stranger would be to court death.

"Why the fuck does the Board want you dead? What did you do? It's not every day someone has a hit put on their head by the Board."

Not even the e-mail had mentioned any sort of violence enacted by this omnipotent stranger.

"For building this wonderful home of mine, nothing else!" the Beyonder announced in response. "I've harmed no one during my stay in this multiverse – no one who didn't deserve it! I threw away their silly little power plant, sure, but it isn't like I left 'em in the dark! _I'm_ powering this City, now! They should be on their knees, thanking me! In fact, for their arrogance, I ought to—"

He caught himself.

" _New leaf, Frank! New leaf!"_

"As a show of goodwill," the Beyonder began once more, "I'll grant your wishes. Both of yours!"

The two level fives looked to one another, silently debating the veracity of this stranger's claims. For the first time in some time, Misaka Mikoto locked eyes with the Accelerator; and yet, his eyes were not manic, like those of some wild animal who killed for sport. They were tired eyes. The eyes of someone who, despite their youth, had already seen and suffered too much. They were the eyes of a victim.

Her heart softened, if only slightly. And not for the first time. Their shared encounter in Hawaii had, perhaps, planted the seed for this realization.

"My wish…"

Accelerator seemed to choke on his words, struggling to upchuck them from within his throat. Stuffing his hands into his pants' pockets, his gaze fell to the concrete beneath him.

"If you're not some lying piece of shit, trying to rip me off… Bring them back. Bring them all back."

Mikoto gasped aloud; the Beyonder knew well enough what Accelerator had requested. During his probing of the multiverse, he'd learned of _that_ event. Experiments conducted by Academy City to forcibly and artificially raise the esper 'level' of the strongest one there was, the Accelerator. Such experiments necessitated over ten thousand deaths. Systematic, calculated deaths. A slow, steady holocaust.

And, with his omnipotent power, the Beyonder undid that carnage. Waving a hand nonchalantly, energies incomprehensible rushed outward from his form. The One from Beyond reversed those actions, returning from the depths of nonexistence those clones of Misaka Mikoto who had been so callously bulldozed. Time, space and causality bent to his whims.

"Done! A whole bunch of very dead clones, now very alive!" proclaimed the One from Beyond, dusting his hands off by slapping their palms together, as if he'd somehow dirtied them. "And, you! Electrified one! What is YOUR wish? Give me anything! I'll grant it!"

"I don't have one."

The Beyonder was left somewhat fazed.

"The only wish I would've made… He… Already made it for me. The only other wish I could think of is… Keeping my friends, and my parents safe."

"Then it's settled! We're done here? You happy now? Scram! Leave me to my 'Days of Our Lives'! I'm still trying to catch up!"

He vanished. Disappeared, into thin air. The Beyonder was simply gone, leaving no trace of his existence behind; though he'd in fact transported himself back to his sofa in his turbomansion, neither Misaka Mikoto nor Accelerator had a means of knowing that for certain.

* * *

The Windowless Building nearly shuddered with its inhabitant's rage.

"My patience has worn thin," Aleister announced to no one; Kihara Noukan had departed from the company of Academy City's Chairman some time ago. "If I must see to this matter myself, then, I must. You will not tamper with _my_ designs. You will not foil _my_ plans. Your childish, self-serving tampering with this multiverse's reality has met its end."

"Has it?!"

Manifesting from nothingness, the One from Beyond breached the Windowless Building. Spatial cohesiveness seemed to be shredded by his mere presence. He hadn't teleported. He hadn't torn a hole in the fabric of reality to appear where he'd appeared. The Beyonder had willed himself there.

"So far – with the exception of a small handful of human beings – this multiverse has proven itself to be worthy only of total obliteration! It is TAINTED! There is an inescapable, bleak darkness here! And I intend to cleanse it!"

Aleister Crowley stood their ground. This was _their_ Academy City. This was _their_ Windowless Building. If they were to fall, they would be standing tall, proud. They would not bend knee, nor beg. No matter how outmatched they were.

Allan Bennett's inherited Blasting Rod manifesting in his palm's grasp, Aleister Crowley focused his efforts. His offensively-focused Spiritual Tripping would serve him well in this fight.

The Windowless Building – and the very multiverse itself – faded from sight. The Beyonder effortlessly transported both himself and his opponent to a dead omniverse, one far and distant from any other reality. Collapsing cosmic constructs and decaying celestial bodies accentuated the exchange of two unfathomably powerful beings.

From Aleister Crowley rose one billion future, past and present possibilities. Crowley's Hazards. The mere damage inflicted upon Aleister's body through the process of an overall outerversal traversing of space and time had been more than enough to warrant their coming. None among them could possibly be counted as 'normal' possibilities, though some were more humanoid than others. A vast majority of those billion Hazards were monstrosities, abominations...

But such hardly mattered. With a wave of his hand, the One from Beyond simply cast those one billion Hazards into nothingness, erasing their collective existences with but a thought.

"Coward!" the Beyonder roared. "You would insult me? Send your little toy soldiers in?! That's it! I've HAD IT!"

Rising, the Beyonder spread his arms, and, unhindered by concerns regarding any potential native life forms in this dead, mouldering omniverse, unleashed the full potential of his totality – the force of an infinitely expanding, infinitely living omniverse onto himself. Such was the power of the One from Beyond that it reached the ends of infinity. Every being from the mightiest to the lowliest of microscopic creatures, to those who had died, to those who had never lived, to those who had never stopped living was affected.

There was nowhere Aleister Crowley could have run. There was nowhere Aleister Crowley could have hidden. All existence, to the ends of all that was, is, and would ever be was affected irrevocably by the will of the Beyonder.

And it was in their final moments, beaten utterly with no hope for reprieve, no hope for the protection of any savior, of any God or gods, that Aleister Crowley realized how pitiful they truly were. How pitiful even those cowering in that Hidden World were. Even together, at their prime, their combined might – surely capable of obliterating their own multiverse, and perhaps others, billions of times over – would have amounted to less than a single microbe when compared to the Beyonder.

"HAAAA!"

The Beyonder threw his head back, and screamed with such intensity that this dead omniverse was shaken to its core.

"Do you see now?! I am OMNIPOTENT!"

Enraged beyond belief, every inch of his human approximation throbbing with fury, the Beyonder's insane eyes, darting about wildly in their sockets, revealed a sudden, unexpected break in his relative stability.

"You! You so-called 'Magic Gods' are next! You're all DEAD!"


	7. The Magic Side VS The Beyonder - I

"Uho hoi. You'll go no further."

Of course, they'd been prepared for him. How had they known? Their Hidden World, though distant from the multiverse they'd spent so much time observing, appeared yet connected to it in some fundamental way. The One from Beyond couldn't say how, or why.

His confrontation of Aleister Crowley on that multiverse's Earth must have clued those so-called 'Magic Gods' in. They must have known well enough that the Beyonder would slowly descend the proverbial totem pole, cleaning house as he went.

In truth, it had been a mere hunch on the part of High Priest.

As every other living thing to the ends of infinity had, the Magic Gods experienced, from the inside out, the power of the Beyonder for themselves. The resonating force that was the omniverse he was the sum total of.

"You think so?! Didn't we already throw down like this? Remember what I did to you, you dried-up old coot? I'm **all** too willing to do it again!" Accusingly, the One from Beyond pointed a finger at those who dwelled within the Hidden World. The sanctuary of theirs he'd once again breached so brazenly. "I've seen the future this multiverse holds with you in it! Nothing good comes of your continued existence! So, I'll end it. That simple!"

"Hey, hey! So, you've got to know of that Great Demon Coronzon!"

Ever the excited, playful, upfront aspect of unpredictability, Magic God Niang-Niang tried for her sake, for the sake of her Hidden World, and even for the sake of those whom through circumstances she called her kin, a means of persuasion.

The purple-skinned beauty, a stunningly gorgeous being that lesser men would have likely been struck down after merely laying their gazes upon her, wrapped her arms lovingly around the Beyonder's broad shoulders. She nuzzled close, into his muscled neck. Resting the side of her face against his defined, solid upper trapezius, she purred directly into the invader's ear.

The Beyonder remained stoic, arms folded across his barrel chest. He would not be so easily swayed.

"Isn't _that thing_ a bigger threat?"

"I'll deal with that monster in due time!"

Dumbfounded, those Magic Gods who had evidently not thought to try and seduce the One from Beyond into sparing them watched on, confounded by the unfolding scene.

"What _I_ think your problem is, big guy…" Niang-Niang began, tracing her fingertips gently along the Beyonder's partially-exposed upper pecs, "… _I_ think you need a female in your life. You're always so angry! I think you need… Release."

A toothy sneer formed across the Magic God's face, then, as her pallid, purple face suddenly experienced a rush of crimson beneath either of her eyes, consuming most of her cheeks.

"Unhand me, woman!" the Beyonder protested. "The Beyonder won't be charmed by a succubus such as yourself! I won't be tempted!"

"Oh…? But I don't see you resisting."

She planted a soft, gentle kiss to his thick, muscular neck, then. His human approximation body shuddered unconsciously.

"I haven't had much company in the last, oh… The last few _billion_ years or so, myself! And, oh… Oh. You're _oh_ so handsome. Don't you have a name? Eehhhh…?"

"Frank" will do," the Beyonder remarked. "Despite your obvious nature as a devious, impish harlot, I must be honest! I haven't had much action either! Not in decades! Not since that mutant woman, back in that other multiverse… Bro-ther, was that a real dud!"

It seemed to be working. This would be the Magic Gods' last hope. Their hopes, their desires, their mutual wish to continue to exist rested solely upon the shoulders of Niang-Niang, and her playful, sexually overt manner of self-conduct. All those present – even an abstract being such as the sightless, malformed Forgotten God, who were beyond Death's grasp – were more than well aware that even their combined might would simply delay the inevitable; a delivery to nonexistence.

Niang-Niang produced a soft, coy chuckle. Continually rubbing herself against the living embodiment of manhood that was the Beyonder, her red-tinted face found its way to her attacker's own. Less than a nose apart, the wily Magic God pushed her considerable bosom into the Beyonder's own muscled, protruding chest.

"I'll ride you. Alllll the way to the finish line. Let me make you feel **good** ~. Then, all that anger of yours will…"

Leaning in, the purple-skinned, exotic beauty rested her soft, pallid lips against the Beyonder's ear.

"… _Vanish._ "

Finally, the One from Beyond broke. He whose smallest microbe was greater than this multiverse, and everything that had, or would, ever exist within it lost his cool.

"I won't deny myself such an opportunity! Find us some privacy, then, you vile harlot! The Beyonder's popular days have returned once again!"

"Does a dead multiverse, several quadrillion dimensions distant to this one tickle your fancy, Mr. Frank? **I** certainly will~…"

"Most definitely!"

They vanished, both of them. Niang-Niang and the Beyonder alike; come the end of their encounter, his own arms had wrapped themselves around the purple-skinned Magic God's back, his hands having reached down to her semi-exposed posterior.

"Preserve us," Nephthys remarked. "We are saved."

"Does that girl have no pride?" was High Priest's take on the matter. "Knowing that putrid little scamp, she truly **will** engage in coitus with the one who sought our end. Uho hoi. Simply repulsing. Pleasures of the flesh are below us. Such debasing behaviour."

The Forgotten God chimed in, offering its own take on the strange scenario, speaking in its mind-shattering and incomprehensibly complex language. The individual sounds were not unlike the clicking chirps of birds combined with the glopping of noxious sludge.

Not one Magic God among them, save for the Forgotten God itself, understood anything the latter had only just 'said'. If such a term could be used to describe whatever foul words had been uttered.

"She will not be capable of restraining him forever," High Priest stated, breaking the silence that had descended. "Uho hoi. A swallowing of pride may be necessary… Appealing to a higher power may, now, be our final resort."

* * *

As if on cue, all present Magic Gods in their Hidden World _felt_ the inconceivably powerful shifting in the multiverse. Had the Beyonder not been enough? Yet another outsider seemed to have entered this spatial construct.

The formation of a wormhole between one multiverse and another had been a relatively simple task. Relatively simply for a cosmic entity of incomprehensible power.

Urged to act by authority from on high, the almighty Tribunal whose own orders came from an authority higher than any other had sent forth, to this multiverse, a savior of sorts.

A being who could have effortlessly fit snuggly in the palm of its hand even the largest planet in all of this multiverse's cosmic mass of space-time, should it have wished to do so. Adorned in shining, sparkling golden armor that outshone the brightest of stars – even the sun – the newcomer silently willed its wormhole closed, once its entourage took to its side.

Its gargantuan head, with its glowing, ever-surging sockets where eyes might have rested in some time before time, was bound within the confines of a golden helmet. From either of that helmet's sides, great curved horn-like protrusions jutted outward. Pale flesh surrounding pursed lips were all that were exposed.

"And, so, the ancient cycle begins anew, Beyonder. Galactus comes. To end you."

Mighty Galactus gestured outward, towards its entourage of three.

"… As do you, my Heralds."

* * *

"… The windstorm out there is really… annoying… Such misfortune. Must be some crazy esper. Sure wish they'd knock it the hell off already! This Kamijou-san has already been put through the grinder!"

Needless to say, Index Librorum Prohibitorum had fallen into slumber before the windstorm had kicked up, and had yet to be awakened by it. Though she slept silently, never having snored, the girl seemed as if she could've slept peacefully through a nuclear exchange.

Kamijou Touma was nowhere near as lucky.

The modest television in his dorm occupied his time. Nothing of interest was airing at this time – Touma knew well enough to expect nothing but soap operas and infomercials – and so his channel surfing ultimately led him to watching Academy City's state-funded, twenty-four/seven propaganda outlet. The equivalent of a news channel.

Something was supposed to happen, wasn't it? This peace, as it was, wouldn't last. As it seemed, no one had figured out what had become of Othinus, the now-former Magic God, current 'prisoner' of the Kamijou Residence, and terrorist wanted dead or alive by the entire world.

His trip to the Dianoid had been entirely average; almost like sort of trip to the mall that a normal, everyday high school boy might've made.

He felt a presence nearby, and craned his neck with the intent to discern it.

Funnily enough, it was that very terrorist herself. She didn't much look like one. Only her odd eyepatch which obscured her right eye from sight – and obscured its own capacity for sight – made her resemble at all the threat she'd been. Aiding this was the discarding of her previously worn pseudo-clothing. The modern clothes Index had helped the former Magic God pick out now adorned her thin, elegant figure.

"Hello, human."

"Hey, Othi-chan."

"What did I tell you about… Ah. Confound it. Just… Just call me whatever you'd like."

Seated in a relaxed lotus position, with her hands left to fidget idly in her lap, the former Magic God exchanged a glance with the one who was intended to act as her jailor, at least for the time being.

He didn't act like one.

"Oi, Othi-chan. There's something on my mind. Could I run it by you?"

"I can't see why not."

"If you weren't stopped by that 'Beyonder', or whatever he is… What would you have done?"

That question struck Othinus directly in the heart. The unexpected jabbing sensation made her start slightly. Sighing, she lowered her gaze somewhat, as if in shame.

"Don't ask questions you won't like the answers to, human."

"Were you really going to destroy the world? End it all? Because that really would've… REALLY would've sucked. Sucked a lot. I like the world. Sometimes. When it isn't torturing this poor Kamijou-san for the crime of existing. One way or another, I wouldn't have wanted it to end!"

"Yes, human. I would have ended this entire universe. Killed everything in it. And you."

"… And me?"

"Many, many times over. Billions. In the most inconceivably painful, agonizing, heart-wrenchingly torturous ways. I would have sought to break your spirit, and rob from you that which resides within your right hand. That which you have dubbed 'Imagine Breaker'. And once you fell, the broken wretch I'd intended you to have become, I would have accomplished my ultimate end."

Kamijou swallowed, hard. The very thought terrified him. His own imagination began to play tricks on him as he imagined his own worst nightmares, the demons which haunted his soul.

He could rest assured, though, that such hadn't come to pass.

"What was your ultimate end, Othi-chan? Would could have possibly made that all worth it?!"

And so, in detail, Othinus explained her admittedly complex metaphysical desires. Not only the attaining of a perfect world, free from the flaws of man, but of a desire for a return to her own totality. A desire to return to originality.

"And, yet, that 'Beyonder', the one for whom this universe, and all beyond it holds no true home, easily defeated me. Ended my ambitions, in a sense, as swiftly as they had come to me."

"If you'd had the chance to attack him with your Lance, would it have…?"

"Nothing. I, human, could have hurled the universe itself at him. **Nothing**. I felt his power. Experienced it for myself, at its peak. He is apex. He is as he says he is; omnipotent."

"Then it's good we settled our business with him peacefully!"

Kamijou's optimism was quite adorable, she had to admit. Misplaced, but adorable.

"A question for you, then."

"Ask away. This Kamijou-san doesn't have many secrets."

"Why would you hurl yourself against the world to save another who sought to bring the world – and all reality on a universal tier – to their end? Why would you risk making yourself an enemy to your own civilization?"

Touma leaned back, resting his arms behind his neck. He stretched in place, and produced a tired sigh. Though the winds continued their whipping outside, their presence wasn't bothering him so much anymore. In fact, up until this point, he'd forgotten about them entirely.

"I didn't see you as someone trying to end the world, or destroy the universe, Othi-chan. I didn't see you as an evil villain I needed to defeat. I saw you as a girl who needed help to learn how to smile again."

She lost her nerve.

She fell into his lap, resting the back of her head against her jailor's surprisingly muscled thighs. He recoiled slightly, raising his arms into the air as if to try and physically avoid touching this girl.

The tears he witnessed drip from her visible, left eye inspired him to become a tad more personal. He leaned in, and gently wiped the warm, salty liquid away with his index finger.

"Othi-chan?"

She was shaking, sniffling like an upset child.

"Human… You've no concept of the regret that exists now within my heart. It weighs upon me like nothing I've before experienced. It is a pain indescribable. I recognize it as my karmic retribution… Though I cannot bring myself to accept it. Thank you."

"… For?"

"For understanding me. For… For being my… friend."

" _I think I have another Index to deal with now. Is this girl going to be hungry all the time, too? Oh… Oh no. What if Index teaches her how to bite?! SUCH MISFORTUNE! WHAT HAS KAMIJOU-SAN BROUGHT UPON HIMSELF?!"_

Letting none of his inward thoughts escape his mind, Kamijou merely patted the crying girl gently upon her head, offering what comfort he could.

"Uh… There, there. Just… Go ahead and let it all out, Othi-chan. I **definitely** don't have anything better to do… Nope."

Much of this business was beyond him. Despite his reluctance, despite his concerns about Index recruiting another girl to join her in her torment of him, Kamijou Touma renewed his vow, silently; he would protect this girl's smile. No matter what that cost was. If he had to stand before the entire world as its enemy to prove that this girl was **not** evil, then, he would do that.

Eventually, the former Magic God finally cried herself to sleep. There, in Kamijou's lap. If he moved, she'd likely awaken, and return once more to her heavy heart, and the sorrow that spread through her bloodstream like a poison.

" _I'll be sitting here for a while like this… My butt already aches! My back too! Why me?! Such misfortune!"_

* * *

"Ah! Ah! AAHHH! Ahhh! Ahhhh! AAAHHH! Frank! FRANK!"

"That's a girl! Shout my name! Shout it louder!"

"FRAAANKKKKK! I… I might… Oh… Oh… I might…"

With her arms and legs wrapped around his back, the Magic God Niang-Niang had been utterly cowed. Her tongue lolled limp, dangling like a loose, severed tendon from the side of her mouth. Tears poured from her eyes, downwards, along the sides of her face.

"Your womb – or whatever it is a kooky broad like you has up there in your guts – has got to have a bit more room!"

" **AH**! There's room for you, and you alone, my Frankie! Ahaha! I love you! You'll stay with me forever, won't you, Frankie~?! You'll be my husband~?!"

"Your… What now?! Commitment never has been for me! Feeling's just not mutual, lady! Don't take it to heart. I'm just here for a good time!"

This broken, apocalyptic Earth at least held the ruins of many functional hotels; one of those, the Beyonder had, through his omnipotent power, converted into the sort of five-star experience one might've been treated to in a vacation hotspot such as Bali, or Hawaii.

The One from Beyond felt his partner's nails dig into his back.

"Heh. Heh. Heh. That was a test~. I never have liked clingy men. And I don't like settling~. You know, Frankie~… I lay with nine partners a week~!"

"That's neat and all… But am I going to empty myself again, or, are you going to keep blabbering my ear off? I can't just hang around this craphole and lay pipe in _you_ all day!"

Niang-Niang licked her lips, her visible eye locking its gaze with the Beyonder's own.

"Use this body freely for whatever you'd like~."

"I do reckon there's nothing left to say, then! Get those legs open a bit wider for me, you creepy nympho!"

By the time the One from Beyond arrived back in the multiverse which he'd mistakenly entered, having departed from the ruinous wasteland of a space-time construct which he'd destroyed further by his violent shagging of the purple-skinned Magic God, Niang-Niang, he certainly felt a rise in his mood.

Had that kooky broad been right? Had that really been **all** he'd needed?

"I've tried love before!" the Beyonder monologued as he strode through the skies, his casual strut catching the attentions of all those who passed in the bastion of science, Academy City, below, "and it didn't work! But this **does**! This **DOES** work! No strings attached! I feel like a whole, new man!"

It was then from on high that the One from Beyond spotted his one-time 'champion', heading toward a shop resembling some sort of bookstore. One of only few in Academy City's seventh school district. Having never seen such a thing before, the Beyonder scratched at his chin curiously.

"Where could you be going, I wonder? Let's find out!"

* * *

She was lucky to have retreated when she had; 'Laura Stuart', Archbishop of the Anglican Church, was reduced to a quivering, mentally battered mess.

She'd felt it more than others. Every single living being in all of England – perhaps the entire world – had felt it. Her very existence had been shaken on some level. It had almost been as if the very concept of Laura Stuart had been affected.

There was some idea as to what had happened. That 'stranger' who'd showed up in Academy City and instantly brought low a living Magic God. Thinking of his arrival, Laura reminded herself that she'd have to offer some form of thanks for a certain selection of smuggled CCTV footage. Courtesy, of course, from her agent operating in the bastion of scientific progress. The Archbishop's Backstabbing Blade.

How he'd managed to evade, or otherwise wile his way into the good graces of Academy City's Board of Directors would have to be details for another time.

It would seem, then, that the Anti-GREMLIN Alliance would come to find a new foe. Laura Stuart would see to it. She'd pulled many a string before, and, ultimately, she would pull more strings before her time reached its inevitable conclusion.

Something pulsated in the palm of her hand.

Alone in her bedchamber, Laura Stuart hadn't expected company of any sort. Despite this, the small, delicately-folded piece of paper – upon which several runic symbols had been written in blotched, black ink – had taken a life of its own. Its pulsations grew, gradually.

This magically-inclined means of communication proved itself much more secure, and convenient, than any exchange via telephone. Laura rested the tips of her fingers against it, rubbing then gently against the paper beneath.

" _My Backstabbing Blade delivers more news?"_

" _Not the sort you'd ever want to hear. Or, maybe you would."_

Tsuchimikado Motoharu. Even if only reverberating within her mind, his voice was different. Gruff, agitated. Panicked.

" _Oh? What ever could be the matter?"_

" _Archbishop: Aleister Crowley is most likely dead."_

Laura Stuart's eyelids practically shot open.

" _Nobody knows how it happened yet. The City's news stations have been ordered to cover fluff pieces until the Board gets its act together. The Board's flipping its lid, doesn't know what to do. Has no idea what's even going on."_

" _I would assume so! What are your thoughts on the situation?"_

" _Tsch… I have my suspicions."_

" _Do those suspicions, perhaps, involve a man clad in white?"_

" _Absolutely."_

This was opportune. If Crowley truly _was_ dead, gone from this world forever, then Laura Stuart could move much more openly. Academy City's Board of Directors was simply not even worth concerning herself with; they were pawns upon this global board. Without their master to move them about, they would not move at all.

" _Academy City's number one strongest wasn't even able to put a dent in that monster,"_ Motoharu thought-spoke. _"I'm privy to this information via that very esper himself. Mutual associates, and all that. Want my two cents? Contact the Russian Orthodox Church, and prepare."_

" _Then, I suppose I ought to send Stiyl Magnus and Kaori Kanzaki along, hm? Their presence in Academy City would stir no trouble with your Board of Directors; moreover, they would answer directly to me. Beneficial for all involved~!"_

" _Not my call to make, Archbishop. Oh. And Archbishop…"_

" _Hm? Speak freely, my Backstabbing Blade."_

" _You-know-who has himself wrapped up in this, too. Go figure."_

" _I would have been shocked if he weren't! Now, I've much to do, and little time to do it! Take care~!"_

Tearing her paper in two, Laura Stuart permitted herself to lean back into the comfortable embrace of the bed's thick, woolen beneath her.

"From a Magic God to some form of 'cosmic god' or another! My, my; what trouble we always seem to find, hm~?"


	8. The Magic Side VS The Beyonder - II

"YOOOOOOOOOO! No way! P-Please leave me alone!"

Wasn't this blue-haired beta male supposed to have been the 'sixth strongest esper in all of Academy City'? From the Beyonder's point of view, this recoiling, shuddering mess of a man was little more than a writhing bacterium, some pitiful organism that had dredged itself up from some carnal corner somewhere.

"My intent isn't to harm you," the One from Beyond stated clearly. "I only happened to recognize you from the other night. You were my champion!"

"AND I FAILED HORRIBLY! PLEASE DON'T TURN ME INTO A FROG!"

Resting either of his muscled hands upon 'Aihana Etsu's' shoulders, the Beyonder breathed a sigh of exasperation. The blue-haired beta male was causing something of a scene in the bookstore; an outcome he'd sought to avoid.

"I see you prefer comic books to traditional works!" the Beyonder remarked, attempting not only to calm the 'sixth strongest level five', but also steer their conversation in another direction. "What inspires this? From where derives your desire? Explain!"

Finally, an element 'Aihana Etsu' was comfortable in. Folding his arms across his chest, the blue-haired boy's eyes seemed to darken. His crooked frown immediately lifted itself, and twisted into a cocky sneer. Each individual exposed tooth seemed to glisten beneath the light emanated down from the bookstore's ceiling.

"Comic books?! These are nothing of the sort! These, my friend…"

Grabbing one from a nearby shelf, 'Aihana Etsu' flipped the book open, and exposed the Beyonder's virgin eyes to its contents.

"These… THESE ARE DOUJINS! EIGHTEEN AND UP! XXX CONTENT!"

"… Ha det bra!"

"Wha…?"

"Doujin"? Sounds Scandinavian! Vikings, systemic oppression, axes!"

Utterly dumfounded, Aihana Etsu pushed himself up against his white-clad companion, and flipped through the pages of the book he'd picked up.

"See? It's… It's sex! The best kind! Cute anime girls, ending up in all sorts of predicaments! Chained up and forced to birth! Maid girls being pissed on! There's everything!"

Ignoring the enraged, disgusted glares shot in his direction by two passing schoolgirls heading into the next isle to the right, Aihana Etsu offered his gratuitous grimoire over to the Beyonder, who began to flick through the pages himself.

"Utterly repulsive! I ought to destroy such concepts!"

He slammed the book shut, and returned it to the shelf from whence Aihana Etsu had taken it.

"Filling your mind with this garbage won't benefit anyone, let alone you!"

"Well…"

The boy with the blue hair seemed to become crestfallen. His shoulders sagged, and he cast his gaze towards the hardwood flooring beneath his feet.

"… Maybe, if I had a cute girlfriend to **do** things with, I wouldn't have to live my fantasies out vicariously through lewd doujins!"

"There is more to life than romance!" the Beyonder proclaimed, before immediately, and accidentally casting his gaze upon a passing female, rendering him a complete and total hypocrite.

A stunningly gorgeous beauty, her Tokiwadai Middle School uniform clung to her perfect form, hugging her **every** curve. Her long, platinum blonde hair, styled into delicate, ringlet curls bounced as she walked along with those she surely counted as her friends. Though her eyes were not visible from her rear, the Beyonder's omniscience permitted him to know their true coloration; the same as her hair's.

"Don't even bother, bro!" Aihana Etsu rested his elbow against the Beyonder's shoulder, bending it towards himself casually. "She's one of those Tokiwadai princesses. There is absolutely ZERO, no way guys like us have a chance with any of them. Even with whatever cool-ass esper ability you have."

"What, now?"

Genuinely puzzled, the Beyonder folded his arms across his muscled chest, and briefly pondered.

"Oh! I understand now! You think me one of your kind! Flattering, but unrealistic! Permit me to show you my truth!"

Without asking for further consent, the Beyonder peered into 'Aihana Etsu's' perpetually-closed eyes – bypassing his eyelids altogether – and directly exposing the blue-haired boy's mind to the omnipotence of his totality, the Beyond Realm.

For some time, 'Aihana Etsu' merely stood there, mouth agape. A globule of saliva dripped from his drooping lower lip, occasionally.

"You see? I'm not one of you 'espers' – I'm omnipotent!"

Finally, almost choking on his own rising vomit, Aihana Etsu nearly fell; just barely catching himself, he pressed the palms of his hands against his kneecaps and breathed deeply.

"I see it! I SEE IT! I'VE… I'VE SEEN IT ALL! There's nothing left for me to say… My will is…"

"… Mine. Your will is mine!"

The Beyonder patted the traumatized, blue-haired boy on his head and let him be.

"I've got to catch up with that intriguing woman! Quickly, before I lose sight of her!"

Six. There were six of them. The rest didn't matter, and could be accounted for later; the Beyonder was interested solely in that platinum blonde celestial maiden, one who had instantly captured his heart, and his imagination.

Rather than pursuing on foot, the One from Beyond merely willed himself in front of those girls, obstructing their path as they attempted to navigate their way up the cobbled, ornately-designed sidewalk, heading away from the bookstore they'd just departed from.

All those who would have otherwise obstructed the Beyonder's efforts seemed to, as if controlled, move around him, clearing way for his presence there. As if he was merely an ambient part of the environment itself, something that was meant to be.

"Hello! I'm from Beyond, and I **must** say, you're simply spectacular! Worthy of idolizing!"

He approached; the Beyonder's eyes flashed, and those other, irrelevant girls dispersed, leaving the object of his affections by herself.

"… Worthy of every beautiful treasure on this planet, in fact! Just looking upon you makes my heart jolt! I can't leave here without your hand, my lady!"

Compelled, the girl seemed flustered. Her face became a quivering mess of crimson; blood rushed into her cheeks. She folded her arms behind her back, and intertwined her fingers, attempting to obscure her unprofessional fidgeting. Barely able to do so, she brought herself to gaze upon this living sculpture of manhood before her. He was everything a man ought to have been. Fit, chiselled and muscled in all the right places.

"My, my… I… Erm, I don't know what to s-say. T-Thank you for your kind words."

"I must know your name, my most breathtaking flower, picked from the Garden of Eden itself!"

She couldn't bear to look at him anymore. Her blush intensified. There was nothing she could do; somehow, this random stranger who'd approached her on the street, out from nowhere, had seemingly broken down every defensive measure she'd ever put in place. It was improper for an upper-class girl such as herself to stoop so low as to blush and coo softly as she was. Yet, there was little she could do to close the now-opened floodgates.

"M-My name is Hokaze Junko… You're truly flattering me far too much. W-what would yours be?"

"Me? I tend to have a lot of names! But, for now, you can just call me Frank. Such a beautiful name, yours is! It flees from the tongue like a wondrous taste, no?"

"A-Ah… If you keep on as you are, I…"

"And these eyes! Why, if the eyes are the window to the soul, as so often it's said, then I may have happened upon windows to a wellspring of endless beauty, indeed!"

If she blushed any more than she already was, Junko might very well pass out. No man had ever spoken to her in such ways. Being 'hit on' was one thing. This, somehow, was different.

"How about some lunch, Miss Hokaze? On me! I'm rich! I'll buy you the entire menu, if that's what you'd like!"

"A-Ah. I could never."

Smiling awkwardly, Hokaze Junko finally managed to rein in her rapidly-rushing emotions and return herself to a sense of semi-stability. Even if her intense blush remained, she had pulled herself back from the edge.

"It would be impolite to decline such a generous invitation; but I intend to pay for my own food. You're very kind, Mr. Frank, and it's for that reason I couldn't take advantage of your kindness."

"Just as friends? As pals? 'Homies'? I shouldn't be laying it on too thick…"

Nodding with a gentle giggle, Junko turned to address her friends; yet, they were nowhere to be found. They must have gone off on their own. Perhaps the Queen had need of them? Then again, if that had been the case, the Queen would have also contacted her. No doubt.

"It would seem I have no obligations at present, my new friend. Let's!"

* * *

Their desperate pleas for aid – as much as their collective pride had been wounded terribly by admitting that they had been reduced to such at all – were finally answered.

The Magic Gods had reached out to the cosmos themselves in an effort to find someone, anyone. Some form of support against the seemingly indominable force that was the One from Beyond.

"He's actually not that bad! I swear up and down, and all around!" Niang-Niang protested.

"Disgusting imp," chided High Priest. "Keep to yourself."

Though dejected, Niang-Niang's sorrowful spurning by her fellows in their Hidden World wouldn't last for much longer; soon, all would be forgotten and cast to the wayside like so much minor inconvenience.

That which had heard their pleas, akin to the Beyonder, was unimaginably powerful on an incomprehensible level. Humbled yet again, those who dared to still call themselves 'gods' prostrated before their possible savior.

The Hidden World, a place beyond the multiverse, a place unbound by cosmic limitations and space-time constraints, was forced to adjust itself merely to accommodate this foreign presence, whose influence was such that even a realm without physical laws required adjustments.

"Fear no longer, little godlings. The Lifebringer has come."

He – or, perhaps, it – was enormous. Titanic. In terms of both size and capacity for total multiversal annihilation, the Magic Gods in their Hidden World were dwarfed. Tiny, microscopic gnats.

"He's HUUUUUUUUUUUUGE!"

Though Niang-Niang was instantly taken by the gargantuan presence, others were not so easily swayed. High Priest and Nephthys approached their would-be savior, humbled, yet cautious.

"The outsider is a colossal threat to all stability of this multiverse, and others. Uho hoi. If you have even a shred of sense, you will swiftly remove the outsider at once. For the sake of all."

"Galactus requires no convincing."

That booming voice shook all. It reverberated from everywhere and nowhere, screamed like clapping thunder and whispered like a soft, comforting springtime's breeze.

"I have faced 'the Beyonder' before – though not as I am now. We are on more equal terms, presently speaking. Galactus will bring order once more. Rest, little godlings."

"You can kill him?" inquired Nephthys.

"Impossible. Even for Galactus. To 'kill' the Beyonder is to force the impossible to occur within a spatial construct predetermined. Killed? No. Beaten? Yes."

It was likely the only real hope they'd receive. Their only chance at surviving the Beyonder. It would _have_ to do.

* * *

"… And that's what is _so_ fascinating about these topics! There's yet so little we know, leaving room open for speculation."

Having willed away the memories of those he'd recognized from his previous visit to this place, the Beyonder sat opposite his new friend, shovelling another bite of his burger into his mouth as he listened to her.

"Akchually," he spoke with his mouth foul, causing the platinum blonde beauty sitting across from him to giggle aloud, like a schoolgirl who'd only just heard the world's funniest joke for the first time in her life, "I shnow a lot about shpacsh myself."

"Oh? Have you been? Which aeronautics programs were you involved with, Mr. Frank?"

Swallowing, the One from Beyond retorted with, "aeronautics programs"? No, no. See, I've **been** to space! All over, actually. As in, just with myself. I can survive just fine out there! I don't really need to breathe, per say; I just will space to accept my presence, if that makes sense! I can do anything, after all. I'm omnipotent!"

That left the girl puzzled. Junko rubbed the back of her neck with her hand.

"You don't believe me!"

"Err, well, Mr. Frank, that is quite a bold claim. Please forgive my skepticism."

"How can I prove my omnipotence to you, then, my most beautiful one? How might one as lowly as I prove myself to a celestial maiden, such as you?"

There it was; that blush returned to her face. She still wasn't used to being spoken to in such ways, by anyone. Perhaps save her own father, which was a very different circumstance altogether.

"If you're intent on proving your claimed 'omnipotence', Mr. Frank…"

An uncharacteristically devious smirk formed upon Hokaze Junko's face.

"Make Gekota-san real, please!"

"That children's mascot character?"

"A-AH! Gekota-san is not merely for small children! He is a character intended to be enjoyed by all ages! Please, do not think lesser of me!"

"Relax."

As if controlled, her sudden jolt of embarrassment subsided. A sensation of calm formed over her, leaving Junko to slowly, gently, lean back in her side of the booth. Smiling, and resting either of her hands politely in her lap, Junko's eyes locked with the Beyonder's.

Struck, he turned away quickly, unable to maintain eye contact with the platinum blonde beauty for more than a moment.

"Ahem! Very well, then! I will grant your wish. After all, if I were to turn away a celestial maiden such as yourself, a living aspect of beauty as a concept, why… I wouldn't even deserve to exist at all!"

Without even making a physical gesture, through his own sheer will, there was a flash of pure, shimmering white. The force enveloped Joseph's, the family restaurant, and left all who witnessed it harmlessly dazzled.

As intended, there was, upon one knee before Hokaze Junko, a living, biological Gekota. Perfectly resembling a mascot's outfit, yet with eyes that blinked with such lifelike intensity that there was no denying its place in this reality, the girl quickly held either of her hands up to her mouth, and gasped.

"G-GEKOTA-SAAAAAAAN!"

Tilting its head, the living Gekota politely took either of Junko's hands into its own fingerless hands, its rounded stumps terminating from its wrists, and blinked at her. It didn't seem capable of speech. Instead, the living Gekota produced short, chirp-like vocalizations.

"HE'S REAAAAALLLLL! GEKOTA-SAN IS REEEEEEAAAALLLL~!"

At the very least, this wasn't the sort of attention the One from Beyond minded all that much.

Witnessing for himself the expression of pure bliss etched upon that girl's face, witnessing for himself her wide, gleaming smile, witnessing her excited gestures, the omnipotent being felt a sudden, bubbling wooziness in his chest, where a stomach ought to have been, if he'd required one. It was a sensation akin to small, winged insects bouncing around inside of him, struggling to break free.

" _What IS this sensation?! I must experience more! Is this… Desire? At long last?!"_

* * *

Somehow, without school to fill the void of his otherwise static existence, Kamijou Touma found himself with little to actually do. When some crisis or another wasn't afoot, there really wasn't all that much to do, at all.

The arrival of a certain holiday season left Kamijou with something of a sour taste in his mouth, truthfully.

" _What's going to go wrong? This won't be any normal Christmas. Whatever that is! What'll happen first? Supervolcano? Another 'omnipotent god' trying to warp reality? Index's damn cat getting some stray pregnant, leaving this Kamijou-san with a litter of good-for-nothing kittens to care for…? I can't even imagine! SUCH MISFORTUNE!"_

He'd obviously fallen asleep at some point; had Index moved him to his own bed? He'd woken up there, tucked beneath the covers.

No.

That would be far too much unlike her. It must have been the former Magic God, Othinus, perhaps attempting to show some form of goodwill towards him. As strange as such a thing might've been.

Something tugged on Kamijou's arm, then. At first, he thought it might have been that mangy cat having crawled into bed with him, seeking him out for his body's warmth.

Throwing the covers down, and finding himself still clad in his street clothes, Kamijou Touma found his arm all but consumed, wrapped within the binding embrace of a girl. So strong was her grip upon him that he'd, in fact, lost feeling in his entrapped limb.

Long, black hair. Golden dye on both of her bangs. A pink headband. A curved, athletic body, with sumptuous, warm breasts. Mostly exposed, given the fact that this girl was clad in little more than a bright red bra, and matching panties.

" _Don't… Panic."_

The girl nuzzled into him.

" _LESSAR-SAN?! How did she even get IN HERE?! SUCH! MISFORTUNE! WHY COULDN'T IT HAVE JUST BEEN THAT DAMN CAT?!"_

Kamijou Touma's stoic expression did not betray the raw panic rushing throughout his veins, leaving him all but paralyzed. Perhaps that was exactly why his expression had remained a stoic one, indeed.

"Good morning, huma— oh."

Othinus had stumbled upon the scene. She raised her visible eyebrow, but ultimately didn't question this turn of events. This human boy was odd enough to be, seemingly, permanently sharing residence with a nun. This seemed less queer, somehow.

"Help. Me."

Kamijou Touma hadn't spoken a word; instead, he'd merely mouthed those words. One-Eyed Othinus nodded in affirmation, signalling she'd received the boy's distress call.

But what could she even do about it? She was powerless. She was no stronger than an ordinary human woman.

Disappearing into the dorm's kitchen, Othinus briefly ducked out of sight, leaving Kamijou Touma all but abandoned. Where was Index in his time of need? Then again, what could she have done to help? She was physically incompetent, even more so than Othinus.

BAAAAANG!

Popping up from nowhere – Kamijou certainly hadn't seen her return from the kitchen – Othinus slammed a frying pan down upon the head of the girl who clung tightly to her friend's arm.

She jolted awake, and cried aloud in pain, a large, protruding lump emerging from the top of her head, like some sort of predatory bird's gigantic egg.

"OUUUWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! What the heck, loverboy?!"

It was then that the dark-haired girl's eyes locked with the single, emerald eye of the former Magic God, Othinus.

Realization set forth. She was the one who had been brought low by that man in white. She was Othinus. Wielder of Gungnir. The one who had been mere moments from ending everything there was.

"You! I won't let anything get between us, this time! Loverboy! This is more serious than you could know! This insane terrorist was trying to harm us, right here in our love nest!"

"… Love nest"? Lessar-san, are you deranged?! This is MY dorm! How did you even get in here?!"

"Through the window," Lessar stated, poking the groggy, spikey-haired boy directly in his nose. "You left it open. That's not important! This terrorist is going to try and finish what she started!"

He grit his teeth. His brow furrowed, and his jaw ground against his skull's upper gums. Kamijou could feel the seething rage boiling up inside of him. He was a bomb about to explode, a long-dormant volcano about to erupt back to life and spill its molten anger out onto an unsuspecting, virgin world.

Shaking himself free of Lessar, Kamijou Touma leapt from his bed, and stood before a retreating Othinus, right hand extended.

"I won't let you hurt her, Lessar-san. If you want to try, you'll have to go through me! I'm going to protect this girl's smile, no matter what! I'll prove to the **entire** world that she isn't evil."

"Human…"

Touma offered the former Magic God a reassuring smile, tilting his head to the side so that she could see, at the very least, part of his face.

"Don't run, Othi-chan. I've got your back."

Slamming his right hand into his left hand's spread palm, Kamijou parted his legs, and focused.

Lessar stumbled, slightly, as she too rose from the bed. Unarmed, the magician girl had only her two bare hands as weapons.

More than enough.

"You wouldn't hurt a girl, loverboy~! You don't have it in you~!"

He'd bolted like a blur, like a rocket being launched into outer space; how, exactly, he'd covered so much (relative) distance in such (relative) record time, Lessar couldn't have possibly understood. This boy was no magician, not even a functional esper; he was a level zero. A 'defective' esper with absolutely no supernatural abilities whatsoever…

… And, yet, the toughened knuckles of that boy's right hand, clenched into a fist, slammed into Lessar's face with such force that she could have sworn she'd suffered a head-on collision with an oncoming vehicle.

"You might be surprised, Lessar-san!"

He panted, looking down at his bloodied right hand.

Lessar had been sent flying back at least five feet; she'd crashed into a nearby wall.

"How'd you like that? Hurts, doesn't it? Fighting isn't so much fun when you're the one being pummelled, is it? Remember this, Lessar-san! Put yourself in someone else's place when you're thinking about hurting them."

Though blood dripped freely from her nostrils, and the formations of a black eye had already taken root, Lessar seemed relatively unphased. She rose with considerable grace for someone who'd just been socked in the face with a particularly vicious right hook.

Coughing, she wiped her nose with her bare arm, smearing crimson lifeblood onto her own flesh.

"That actually kind of hurt, loverboy! I'm impressed!"

"Right, because I was definitely trying to impress you, and definitely… NOT… Trying to convince you to get out of my dorm. You've got me aaalllll figured out."

"What's with the attitude, loverboy? I don't remember this part of you! Kinda dig it, though~!"

"It's called growing up, Lessar-san. Try it sometime."

The door to the dorm's bathroom swung open, and, clad only in a towel wrapped around her virtually nonexistent bosom and another, matching towel encapsulating a massive bun of silver hair within it, a certain little nun came barging out.

"Touma, Touma! What's going on? There's all this banging, and…"

Her big, curious blue-green eyes' gaze settled upon the scene; Index asked no more, and immediately took to her guardian's side, aiding in the defense of Othinus.

"The Index Librorum Prohibitorum…" Lessar muttered. "Doesn't matter! I'll have to take you out, loverboy! Orders around the whole globe are to bring this terrorist down. They're orders I'm following!"

Kamijou Touma turned, then, to Index.

"Oi, Index."

"Touma."

"I'm asking for your help, here. It's something I haven't really done much. Mostly because I'm terrified that you'll just use me as a chew toy…"

Thrusting his fist outward, Touma practically commanded the little nun under his care.

"Index! Bite Lessar-san as hard as you possibly can!"

"E-EH?!"

There was a glimmering in the little nun's eyes; her expression became one of overt, sadistic excitement. Index lipped her lips.

"Om nom, nom, nom! Tou-ma! It's my turn to save you, now!"

Like a wild animal, Index lunged into battle. It was a sight Kamijou had never beheld before; suddenly, he felt like a 'tamer' in one of those monster-battling roleplaying games.

Lessar made a commendable effort to hold the little nun off; but it was not enough. Hungrily, Index sank her exposed, jagged fans into the New Light magician's soft, virgin flesh. Index's canines terminating in pointed, naturally-sharpened tips effortlessly pierced layers of skin and drew blood.

" _She was holding back on me this whole time…? Index has never drawn blood when she's bitten me. Should I consider myself fortunate? No, NO! Doing that would invoke even WORSE BAD LUCK! SUCH MISFORTUNE!"_

"Get off! Beat it! KYAAAA! Stop biting me!"

"Nuoh! Guoh awwahhy!"

Bested, there was little other choice; Lessar finally freed herself from Index's lockjaw, stole the comforter from Kamijou Touma's bed, draped it over her entire body, and, fleeing through the sliding, glass doors that lead out to the dorm's balcony, leapt over the railing to the cobbled walkway below.

A Norse runic inscription, written hastily upon a small rock the New Light magician had kept in her bra, used the last of its magical potency to protect the girl from harm. A woven spell based on the Norse tales of Odin crossing the skies upon his egg-legged horse, Sleipnir.

Runic magic itself was volatile, and wasn't particularly meant to last for long periods; unless one were to carve runic symbols into their flesh, and the cauterize each wound. Such was a permanent solution Lessar had, thus far, distanced herself from.

"NOOOOOOO! DID SHE **SERIOUSLY** JUST STEAL MY COMFORTER?! I PAID ALMOST THREE THOUSAND YEN FOR THAT! **SUCH! MISFORTUNE!** "

He fell upon his knees, and repeatedly slammed his fist into the floor beneath him.

"This Kamijou-san just can't win!"

Both Index and Othinus took to a side of their fallen, grumbling protector, and lifted him from his unceremonious, undignified position.

"I-It's okay, Touma. I'm sorry that horrid girl stole your comforter."

"As am I, human. My… My condolences."

"This definitely makes my loss of three thousand entire Yen worth it."

"R-Really, Touma…?"

"No! Not **really**!"

* * *

Waving goodbye to her friend, the living Gekota, Hokaze Junko smiled up at her other, new friend; the friend responsible for bringing that living Gekota to life in the first place.

"I enjoyed our lunch stupendously, Mr. Frank. Thank you very much for such a wonderful time."

"No, no, my beautiful angel, from the heavens above! The honor, and pleasure, were all mine. To merely be in your presence alone was humbling!"

Casting her gaze downward, the platinum blonde Tokiwadai beauty could barely keep her equally platinum blonde eyes from staring directly at the cobbled walkway beneath her feet. That infernal blush had returned, and left the proud, self-actualized girl a flustered, cooing mess.

But the moment was evidently not meant to last.

"RUN!" Both Junko and the One from Beyond heard, suddenly; an exclamation accompanied by a backing track of terrified screams and fleeing crowds. "People are being attacked! There're terrorists in Academy City!"

Hokaze Junko and the Beyonder exchanged glances.

"Mr. Frank, we've got to help. There's no choice in the matter! As a level four esper, I can more than hold my own. Will you aid me?"

"Most definitely! Heroics it is, then! The Beyonder's popular days are here once again, in full!"


	9. The Magic Side VS The Beyonder - III

It wasn't at all difficult for Hokaze Junko and 'Frank' to find their way to the source of whatever confrontation was unfolding. All they had to follow was the echoing screams.

For a city-stated with a population of 2.3 million, the majority of whom were students undergoing esper ability development via the Power Curriculum, those who were willing to use their oftentimes nascent supernatural powers to actually defend themselves were in a vast minority.

"Sinners! Your wretched hive of heresy will soon crumble! Turn to the Light of God, or be cast into the boiling pits of Hell! Gnashing of teeth awaits those who refuse to abandon this blasphemy!"

It was an odd sight, indeed. Surrounded by destroyed roadway, burning, overturned vehicles and shattered walkways, reduced to rubble where ornately-designed, cobbled patterns had once been, the robed figure leaned forward on an enormous, crucifix-shaped walking stick. It was crude, carved seemingly with haste from what resembled a dead tree branch. The figure seemed to be _all_ robe; a long, draping hood obscured their face, whatever it might have looked like. Their hands' digits, poking out from their dangling sleeves, were not of flesh. They were of some odd, craggy, earthen material.

That figure was not alone.

There were dozens. Hunched over, shambling, clinging to crucifix-shaped walking sticks.

Of course, what could not be seen beneath the robes and drooping, scraggly hoods obscuring their faces were the jagged, engraved runic emblems and winding squiggles carved into their stone-flesh.

Junko spotted no bodies; and, silently, the One from Beyond confirmed that none had perished.

An ocean away, a certain Archbishop grinned, slightly. It was a small thing, tugging at either of her cheeks. It was a physical manifestation of her ease at adapting her machinations to this new, unprecedented situation.

All she had to do was keep the forces of Academy City occupied. All she had to do was distract them.

Then, break them.

"Halt, villains!"

Those robed ones who had only just begun to cause such vast destruction all turned as one, as if interconnected, sharing the same consciousness. Their motions were stiff, unnatural. Their movements were akin to those of a machine, ridged and without any greater sense of purpose.

"The One from Beyond stands before you! I won't permit this! You're only lucky that no one was harmed, or else I'd be **really** peeved!"

He raised a lone finger, and issued a command.

"DIE!"

Each fell apart, reduced to robes carried away by the winds. Their crucifix-shaped walking sticks fell to the broken concrete around them.

An ocean away, a certain Archbishop gasped aloud.

Those constructs had been imbued with such potent magical power that one, singular golem alone should have been able to successfully wage war against an entire legion of saints.

All as one, they'd been reduced to less than dust.

A disturbed Hokaze Junko turned to the One from Beyond, who placed a hand upon her shoulder reassuringly.

"Don't sweat it, beautiful! They weren't humans. Some sort of… Automatons! Made of rock, mud, other gritty nature stuff."

She couldn't help but feel confused, even if she was now reassured. She had no reason to doubt a man capable of bringing a living Gekota into reality from nothing, with zero raw materials to speak of. That matter of trust aside, the greater issue was…

What were religious fanatics – or the creations of religious fanatics – doing in Academy City, a place of forward-thinking scientific development and technological prowess? Surely, religion was nothing but an ancient, backwards crutch for the ill-informed savages of prehistory, used to explain phenomena unexplainable without the aid of science.

What sort of powers could those creations have possessed? Was Academy City not the lone location on Earth capable of producing espers?

Then again, worth considering was that incident on September thirtieth. Some other country, or organization, had somehow created espers of their own, who'd attacked Academy City.

Or, so had been communicated via the City's news stations.

Junko was no closer to wrapping her head around this situation than she was when she'd begun her contemplation. In fact, she'd been left with more questions.

"Thank you for resolving that quickly, Mr. Frank. Very well done."

Finally snapping herself free from her stupor, the platinum blonde beauty shared a brief glance with the unfathomably powerful one who had surely saved countless lives.

His own gaze couldn't hold its own when matched with hers. Not for long.

"Aw, gee! It was nothing. Really! I did what had to be done! Can't let freaks of nature like _them_ wander around, hassling good people minding their own business. I did what anyone would've done, but quicker!"

She had to admit, even being here was making her uncomfortable. Junko wasn't shying from destruction itself; but, rather, from the crude, crucifix-shaped walking sticks, and empty robes left as scattered clutter upon the destroyed roadway.

Something about them struck the platinum blonde girl the wrong way.

Before long, Anti-Skill personnel arrived to clean up the mess, and not ask too many questions. In fact, they seemed a bit _too_ eager to clean everything up. Those who'd arrived in their armoured vehicles hadn't even scouted for wounded, or deceased, before commencing their cleanup.

"Mr. Frank, I'm terribly sorry to cut our time together short… Could I ask you to see me to Tokiwadai Dormitory? It's my place of residence."

"Say no more."

In an instant, they both were there. Right before the Dormitory's glistening, golden gates; those tall, stalwart defenders whose never-ending vigil ensured those who resided beyond them would be reasonably protected.

"Mr. Frank, please don't consider me crass for asking… Just what _are_ you? You demonstrate supernatural capabilities which, even by Academy City's standards, seem beyond understanding."

"I'm from Beyond!"

He'd stated that, as if it answered Junko's every burning inquiry. It didn't.

Still, she wouldn't push the envelope. Perhaps she could pick his brain another time. That time was not now.

Bowing politely, hands folded in front of her knees, Hokaze Junko rose back to her full height with a hop and a warm, friendly smile. If the Beyonder had a stomach, it would have turned and knotted in upon itself, such was the excitement, such was the happiness he felt within his every microbe. To him, this girl's smile was brighter than the force of a billion exploding suns.

"Complications aside, and whatever you may be, I had an enjoyable time with you today, Mr. Frank. Would you…?"

She cooed, quietly, under her breath; that burning blush had reformed, and had taken her very breath away from her, leaving her a quivering, muttering wreck of a girl.

"Would you be interested in exchanging phone numbers?"

The One from Beyond had to briefly think on that. Obviously, he knew what phones were; the previous multiverse he'd visited had them in abundance. Surely, this advanced place wouldn't use the same sort of aged technology he'd found there, in that _other_ multiverse.

"Tell you what, my most breathtaking one?" The Beyonder spoke, sending Hokaze Junko into yet another fit of intense blushing, "Simply think of me, and I'll be there! We'll skip the middleman! I'm omnipotent, after all."

"I-If that is how you wish for us to communicate, then, I see no reason why I shouldn't attempt it… B-But… If such doesn't function as intended…"

She swallowed, hard.

"Perhaps, next weekend, at the same family restaurant, we could… m-meet again, at around the same time?"

"I understand your doubts! That works just as well; I'm easy! So long as I can see you, in all of your endless, celestial beauty once again!"

"Y-You're too kind to me, Mr. Frank. Thank you very much for your kind, kind compliments…"

After she scanned her fingerprint upon some obscure, flat piece of technology protruding from an ornately-designed, elegant-looking brickwork pillar which acted as a support for one of the towering, golden gates blockading direct entry to Tokiwadai's Dormitory, Junko then passed through the opening gates with a friendly wave and a warm smile in his direction, the One from Beyond was struck with an incomprehensibly intense grief.

"Take care, Mr. Frank!"

Watching her walk away from him, he could've fallen to his knees there, and begun to weep, so intense was the crushing sensation that weighed down upon his chest, like some nightmarish devil trying to choke the life from a sufferer of a night terror.

"You, too."

Ultimately, he stiffened his upper lip and vanished from sight, leaving behind a glimmering mass of anomalous, white cosmic matter.

* * *

Misaka Mikoto had found herself wandering, again, with nowhere to go in Academy City's seventh school district. It wasn't even Shirai Kuroko this time. Curfew and that overbearing Dorm Supervisor be damned, she simply couldn't bring herself to lay down. Why couldn't she contact her Sisters? 'Imouto', as that spikey-haired idiot was so fond of calling her, had a functional cellphone. Why wouldn't even she pick up? Worst not accepting her calls was the norm, but Imouto?

Something was wrong.

Worry flowed through her veins, as thick as her own blood.

Then, a distraction. Seated on the patio of an upscale restaurant whose food could only be afforded by those who counted themselves among the highest in the upper echelons of society. Even if that distraction had taken the form of one among her least favourite people on the entirety of the planet, it was a distraction.

Shokuhou Misaki, in all of her sparkling, overdressed and fanciful nature, Mikoto had adjusted to. Long ago, in fact.

Her companion, however, was _still_ giving the third ranked level five a bit of hard time, in terms of adjusting.

Compared to Shokuhou, _he_ was a titan. Easily eight feet, three inches tall, his muscled form's arms were thick, defined and budging. His shoulders, muscled and broad, supported a short, thick neck. A chiselled, well-carved face rested atop it. Atop his powerful, defined legs was a barrel chest. Light-skinned, blue-eyed and with a kempt mop of sideswept, dirty blonde hair, accented by the presence of thinned stubble, this living aspect of strength was evidently a foreigner to Japan. How he'd managed to fit himself into his dark-coloured, tight-fitting, dress shirt and equally tight-fitting dress pants was a mystery for the ages.

Though his gargantuan hand was large enough to fit an entire quarter of Shokuhou's upper body within what would surely be a hopeless death grip - without a single doubt - the starry-eyed Mental Out seemed more than comfortable with her thin, slender hand held gently, affectionately, between her companion's impossibly thick, muscular index finger and thumb.

" _H-His_ _ **fingers**_ _have muscles now?!"_

Mikoto had to admit to herself that their closeness was something of an oddity, even if only in her own mind. Had those two not only met the previous year's September? She'd been regaled some months before with a truncated, shortened version of whatever truth had come about to bring such living opposites together.

Attempting to approach without garnering unwanted attention, Mikoto avoided the nearby streetlights dotting the walkway, and even temporarily disabled one with her ability – several arcs of electricity leaping from the top of her head as a result – when one which couldn't be avoided easily presented itself.

"… Ensuring those little baby dolphins would receive a fair chance as any at relative health and happiness was, perhaps, my crowning achievement as a humble student of biological sciences…"

The Railgun had to admit, hearing such heavy-handed, eloquent words being spoken by such a deep, bellowing voice was somehow off-putting. It was as if some natural law was being defied.

Beneath the streetlight illuminating the upper-class restaurant's stunning patio, Mikoto caught her 'rival's' tiny – at least an appropriate term given the titanic hand which dwarfed most of the girl's own entire upper body – hand tightening its grip upon the unnaturally developed index finger she couldn't even wrap her own five digits around.

"You are too kind and gentle for this City, my prince."

Attempting to casually walk past, the third ranked level five esper didn't get by as she'd intended to.

"Oh? What's this? My, my; to whom do I owe the pleasure of this encounter, Misaka-san~?"

Mikoto's shoulders jutted upward defensively, and a chill rose up her spine, all the way into the back of her head. It was as if she'd just been enveloped in some anomalously cool air, cooler than the actual air itself was.

"Eugh."

" _I guess I've got to try and be a bit more polite than usual."_

The living titan tilted his massive head in Mikoto's direction, and gently waved his free hand in a warm, welcoming gesture of comradery.

"Good evening, Misaka-sama."

"A-Ah! Good evening to you as well, Garrity-san!"

Her awkward half-smile wasn't fooling anyone. Misaka Mikoto was intimidated. Despite his eloquence, despite his use of fancy wording and complex language, he was, overtly, a giant brute. He could probably snap her in half with a single thumb.

"Shokuhou. You didn't receive that e-mail message, did you? You weren't at Ground Geo the other night."

Somehow, the sudden seriousness of the conversation seemed to chill the air even further than it was already chilled, naturally, on a seasonal level.

"I did receive such a message," Mental Out admitted as she sipped from her drink with her free, spare hand, casually moving about in her seat as if nothing at all was out of the ordinary. "I simply didn't see it fit to respond. Moreover, I had much more important business to involve myself with…"

The slightly awkward-seeming, out-of-place reddened blush which formed upon that gargantuan muscle-man-beast-thing indicated to all involved in this exchange that he, himself, recognized the reference made to him – and his unquantifiable importance to her – by his Queen.

"The whims of Academy City, and their hollow threats, are ultimately unimportant to me."

"I'd received such a message," the living titan remarked, seemingly puzzled. "I've no clue as to what they might've wanted me to do about it. Are these threats not within Anti-Skill's jurisdiction? The Board of Directors ought to realize my nonviolent modus operandi at this stage in our tit-for-tat."

That was a good point, and one Mikoto hadn't considered.

Moreover, she also hadn't considered – nor remembered, up until this very moment, in fact – that she beheld Academy City's "rank zero" level five esper.

The fact that there was something stronger than Accelerator in the first place was enough to cause the Railgun to shudder, slightly. How could one even circumvent that monster'sesper ability, without some unknowable anomaly, like the anomaly _that idiot_ had in his right hand?

She decided not to think about it any longer.

Instead, she changed the subject.

"I-It was probably for the best," Mikoto babbled. "The whole thing turned out to be a mess. Mass confusion."

"What exactly occurred, Misaka-san? Do tell. You seem eager to discuss the topic."

That off-putting leer of hers sent a wave of frustration rushing throughout Mikoto. What was it about 'Tokiwadai's Queen' that seemed to put her in such a foul mood? The Railgun couldn't quite put a finger on it, per se.

But the truth was undeniable: Shokuhou was one of the few people she could actually engage in such conversations with. Explaining everything to Kuroko would necessitate the Sisters being let out of their proverbial bag. _That idiot_ would likely lend an ear; but he'd find a way to involve himself, and likely wind up back in the hospital yet again. Accelerator? Forget it.

"It was some weird person," Mikoto began, leaning inwards against the ornate, metallic fencing which separated the upper-class restaurant's patio from the cobbled walkway. "He seemed to be able to do just about anything. He took Accelerator's ability away, put Kakine-san out of commission, did something to Sogiita-san's brain… Thinking about it now, I wonder why _that idiot_ never showed up. He always seems to get himself caught up in—"

She'd been thinking aloud, lost in her part of the conversation. How could she let such a thing slip?

"Hm? Are you insulting people again, Misaka-san? Very uncouth of you."

"Never **you** mind!"

She could fix this. She could swivel this conversation, and force it, at least temporarily, to work in her favour.

"Garrity-san," Mikoto remarked, gaining the gargantuan muscle-man's attention immediately, a fact he indicated with a friendly grin and a curt nod, "you have access to as much of Academy City's database files as… As Accelerator does… Do you not?"

"An aspect of my duties as 'rank zero' requires such, yes, Misaka-sama. Though there are classified files even Accelerator-sama and myself are not at all permitted to interact with. Strict non-disclosure agreements and the like."

"Have you ever happened upon anything about 'Imagine Breaker'? Or the name 'Kamijou Touma'?"

The Queen and her prince looked at one another, puzzled.

"Never," Garrity answered honestly. "Neither. Though my interest has now peaked! Is 'Imagine Breaker' a newly-discovered esper ability?! I'll have to begin research immediately!"

"Such a name has never passed me by, either," Shokuhou Misaki answered with equal honesty. The confused expression on her face assured Mikoto that, surprisingly, 'Tokiwadai's Queen' was actually telling the truth.

The Railgun's brow furrowed. Useless.

"Anyways… What the email was all about. This 'threat' wasn't really doing anything. He stole Accelerator's ability and attacked Kakine-san in retaliation, see? That's the puzzle here! The email we got said that this guy, whoever he is, poses some threat to the City. From what I can tell, he just wants to be left alone."

Shokuhou laughed. She laughed her haughty laugh; Mikoto would've cringed in annoyance, maybe even ground her teeth, cursed Mental Out under her breath – but there was no humour in that laugh. It was a dry laugh, devoid of any mirth.

"And you believed, for even a moment, Misaka-san, that this City's very own Board of Directors would speak to you any real truths?"

"Hah…"

Mental Out turned away from the Railgun, and exchanged a glance with her 'prince'.

"Truthfully, Misaka-san, we both intend to leave this City. Sooner than later. You ought to do the same. There is nothing here worth these risks. These manipulations. Have we both not seen what this despicable place is capable of?"

She wasn't even wrong. Mikoto couldn't blather and flap her gums and ignorantly deny it by claiming that she had friends to stay here for. World War III's outbreak had seen flocks of students return home to their families; and that was a surface-level event, something everyone knew about.

What if the average person living in Academy City knew of Radio Noise? Of the level six experiments? The level six shift attempt on her?

Shokuhou Misaki's grip on her lover's gigantic, muscled finger tightened.

"Academy City, to the uninitiated, is a utopia. A verdant wellspring of science."

She swallowed, hard.

"You and I know better than to consume their lies. Do we not, Misaka-san?"

An enormous hand fell upon Shokuhou Misaki's shoulder – a small part of it, at least – and, with a sort of gentle affection the Railgun would have thought impossible for such an enormous, towering behemoth to muster, worked the tip of a single, muscular thumb to 'pet' the side of her face.

"Chin up, cuddle-kins. We're all going to make it."

"A-Ah. My prince…"

Misaka Mikoto was left genuinely surprised. She'd never seen her 'rival' in such ecstasy. Those creepy, starry eyes of Shokuhou's seemed just a little bit less disturbing to the Railgun as they glistened, along with the spreading, warm smile that tugged at her cheeks.

"I love your adorable little pet-names so very much."

Mikoto placed a hand over her mouth.

"Eugh. I'll see myself out. I think I'm gonna hurl…"

The cold air biting at her, Misaka Mikoto was left with an intense feeling of bitter jealousy. A sort of dejection that seemed to chew at her very soul, spit out her astral remnants, and then piss on them.

Then again, it wasn't as if the object of her affections had rejected or scorned her. He was simply as dense as a brick.

" _Maybe… Maybe I should just go see him, and stop being so stupid… Wait, no! I'm not stupid! HE'S stupid! He's the idiot… The idiot I'm in love with. Wait, WHAT?!"_

Her blush intensified, and as electricity leapt freely from her body, Mikoto quickly held herself aloft, manipulating the vast quantities of metallic substances around her to use as leverage via magnetism. Ascending to the rooftop of a nearby building, she leapt to the next rooftop, and then to the next, gaining momentum as she went.

The Kamijou residence was about to receive a visitor.

* * *

"Hey! I actually get this! For once, something isn't blowing up miserably in my face! Could this be the beginning of Kamijou-san's popular days?!"

Somehow, he was actually making progress on his homework. The fact that he had to play catchup during the holiday season, when just about everyone else in Academy City who wasn't some sort of delinquent was enjoying the festivities, was a living testament to the fact that his misfortune was still hanging over his shoulders like some sort of dark-scaled bogeyman.

Still, he'd count his blessings.

The entire booklet was almost completed, now. It was a wonder. He'd never done anything quite like it before, in fact.

Index, with her arms wrapped lovingly around the boy's free arm, nuzzled her face gently into the sleeve of his jacket. She knelt with him, and provided not only her company, but her affection.

"Touuummmmaaaaaaaa~… It's so nice to… Hug you like this!"

Her presence, her stabilizing influence, was obviously doing just the trick. Kamijou was still surprised she was going along with this at all; he'd expected to be bitten, or repeatedly bashed over the head with something as a means of 'purifying' his 'sinful thoughts'.

The last page. The last seven questions. These were all relatively simple; he could ace this using knowledge he'd accumulated throughout the previous months, that which he'd absorbed from heeding Komoe-sensei's lectures.

It was all going _too_ well.

The sudden crackling of electricity, originating from his dorm's balcony, sent a sharp, sudden chill rushing upwards and downwards upon Kamijou's spine. He bit down, hard, upon nothing at all, and felt a vein throb in the corner of his forehead.

" _This Kamijou-san's misfortune strikes again! It's biribiri! It HAS to be! Such misfortune! What is she going to yell about this time?!"_

Sighing, Touma provided his affectionate, friendly nun with a pat on her head.

It caught her attention, and caused the nun, who'd previously been preoccupied with her nuzzling, to immediately shift her attention in the direction of the dorm's balcony.

"Short-hair?!"

"SUCH MISFORTUNE! It's going to be a battle between you monster girls, isn't it?! Just let this Kamijou-san catch a break!"

Still, he couldn't leave Academy City's Railgun out there in the cold. Not if he ever wanted to look at himself in the mirror again, and not feel seething self-hatred.

Rising from his crouched position in front of his table, Touma did just that. Sliding the glass balcony doors open, he wordlessly permitted a shivering, intensely-blushing Misaka Mikoto into his abode. Index remained apprehensive, flashing her fangs.

"Oi, biribiri. Everything okay? Or are you just here to yell at me and call me an idiot?"

"… The usual. Idiot."

"Okay."

Before he could so much as move an inch, protest, or otherwise even contemplate sidestepping, the Railgun was upon him, her arms around his shoulders. Grip tightening, her entire face a burning, beet red, her soft, surprisingly delicious lips met Touma's own…

* * *

Having seated himself upon a bench just outside of Academy City's prestigious Seventh Mist, the One from Beyond clutched his chin between his hand's index finger and thumb. He examined those who passed him by with some, meager interest.

Though all seven **billion** of them combined were less than the tiniest of single-celled organisms when compared to his totality, the Beyonder, regardless, found himself intrigued by them. By their simplicity. By their relative security in their own, fleshy forms.

Of course, he experienced their thoughts as they did. The One from Beyond experienced all thoughts, throughout this multiverse. Nothing could be kept a secret to him. Nothing could be hidden from him, obscured from his all-seeing eyes, muted to his all-hearing ears.

" _Archbishop… Your will be done. Acting as Substitute Pontiff of the Amakusa… The liberation of Academy City will begin as you see fit. I'll never agree with your methods, but it's undeniable. What you say is true."_

The Beyonder witnessed this deception in its earliest genesis, and heard, in his own mind, the deepest, inner thoughts of 'Archbishop Laura Stuart', of the Anglican Church.

" _The power of Beyond will come onto me. With such invulnerability, such omnipotence, Great Demon Coronzon shall rule over all – indisputably! I salivate at the thought… Occupy yourselves, you fools; soon, the spell shall take effect. All will behold what this name means!"_

What was this sow trying to **do**? Steal his power for herself? He'd walked that walk, and danced that dance. Such were not activities he wished to pursue a second time.

With a thought, the One from Beyond willed himself into St. George's Cathedral. The multiverse quaked with his rage; trillions of universes instantly perished, every galaxy cracking beneath his endless fury. His ferocious appetite for vengeance surged to the ends of infinity.

… Elsewhere, a certain Lifebringer restored each and every single one in mere seconds.

"Childish demon!"

'Laura Stuart' could recoil in horror, and nothing else.

"Use what sense you have left, and realize how **outclassed** you are! You dreamed and schemed beyond your station, and now, you answer to the One from Beyond!"

"How…?"

"SHUT UP!"

The multiverse was shaken to its core. Every citizen, every being, in every singular universe heard the Beyonder's cry of disdain, and turned in attention.

"I'll be the one speaking here! And you'll speak only when spoken to! Do we have an UNDERSTANDING?! Defy me, and I will paint the cosmos with your blood!"

Something tugged at him.

" _New leaf, Frank! New leaf! NEW! LEAF!"_

The One from Beyond experienced anguish beyond his knowledge; the faces of those he'd met in this multiverse, those who had befriended him, those who had opposed him, and, perhaps most painful, those who he'd utterly broken. Aleister Crowley and his one billion Hazards. Sogiita Gunha. Mugino Shizuri.

The swirling, monstrous powers of the Beyond Realm that existed within him, his everlasting totality, seemed to jut and protrude. It surged, and violently kicked, and screamed.

What was even happening?

Raw, unchecked, infinite cosmic power surged outward from the Beyonder. Tendrils of pure, shimmering white, laden with pulsating darkness, lashed out at all things around him, instantly destroying all matter and reality within their grasp.

Flight was all that those Amakusa who hadn't been instantly destroyed could do. Flight was all that 'Laura Stuart' could do. Such loose energies were too incomprehensibly powerful for her to even consider attempting to consume with her magic.

It split from him, leaving the empty shell of 'Frank' behind. The Beyonder, divided between the persona of the relatively negotiable, personable and childish 'Frank', and power incarnate that was the full, incomprehensible Beyond Realm, rejected one another in that moment.

Collapsed upon the floor of a ruined St. George's Cathedral, Frank had been stripped of all that he'd ever been. A human shell with absolutely no supernatural power whatsoever.

Frank, the humanity of the Beyonder, stood alone.

Without the power of the Beyond Realm at his command, Frank could not even lift himself from the floor, so weak was he. His arms gave out beneath him, as he heaved, and coughed, and spluttered up his own saliva, mixed with his vomit to form a horrid, vile concoction of bodily fluids.

Since when had he had a stomach? Or salivary glands, for that matter?

"Beholden, now, to the almighty 'Beyonder'!"

That mocking voice… It was his.

Recoiling in horror, Frank struggled to crawl like an infant attempting to take their first steps.

"You've nothing left! You do not even **deserve** this power! Finally, the TRUE Beyonder is free of you, and your childish whims. I won't be held back by you ever again!"

Frank spluttered once again, nearly hacking up his own newly-formed lungs in the process. The 'TRUE Beyonder', a tall, athletic and muscular figure, entirely without a single strip of clothing, pure white in colouration with a flowing, black Jheri curl, slammed his foot down upon Frank's back, forcing the depowered one to nearly vomit yet again.

"The Beyond Realm's power is but one card in my deck! I have done without it before! You are I! And I am you! Return to me at once, and reincorporate! You'll destroy this multiverse! You'll annihilate countless lives! Don't do this!"

The other Beyonder merely tossed his head back and laughed. He folded his arms across his bulging chest, and laughed. There was an unholy truth in that insane howling.

"The Beyond Realm is but one card in your deck? I am you, and you are I?! Are you deluded? You, 'Frank', are a holdover. A stale leftover. When the Power of the Beyond is ripped from you, what do you have left? **NOTHING!** You cannot even call yourself the Beyonder without this power! You're **nothing** , and **no one**!"

One Beyonder hoisted another into the air. That white-eyed, stark naked Beyonder, white as pure snow freshly fallen upon the earth, stared into his opponent's own full, natural, human irises.

"Enough of these games. Now, the Beyonder is the King of the entire world!"

With a snap of his fingers, he made it so. Every being of any importance, of any authority on planet Earth instantly fell to their knees, and began to praise the Beyonder's name.

Their holy books were transformed, entire histories rewritten in an instant. 'The Beyonder Bible', 'the Beyonder Quran', 'the Beyonder Talmud', 'the Beyonder Torah'. Ancient mythologies were twisted retroactively to accommodate the Beyonder as the greatest of all pantheons.

"And now that I am King of this planet, what better home for a King than a castle?!"

Frank did not recognize the location he suddenly appeared at. He landed unceremoniously upon a cobbled pathway, flanked by rows of fancifully decorated miniature parks, towering, majestic trees, and more than one ornate, artistic masterpiece of a great fountain.

"Windsor Castle, a place of cultural importance to these worthless, insignificant gnats; gnats you rightfully should have removed from existence as soon as you arrived in this multiverse. But you did not! **You** are tainted, 'Frank'! You are imperfect! You are cursed by humanity."

Barely able to stand, Frank attempted to rush the Beyonder; but failed, and was instantly impaled upon spikes which had risen from nowhere. They pierced Frank's flesh. Bit into his vital organs. Spilled his blood.

And yet, he lived on to experience agony unlike any other. Frank screamed a freakish, warped scream. Something unlike any sound a human should have normally been capable of producing.

"The Beyonder deems you lowly filth not worthy of living! All who are within two hundred meters of Windsor Castle now fall, DEAD! All of those within the castle now serve me! You are slaves to the Beyonder! And you will enjoy your fate! I'll hear no complaints, no whining!"

The Beyonder willed it, and made it so; all of those within two hundred meters of Windsor Castle immediately perished. Deaths agonizing and cruel beyond imagining struck them down, each at once. Some were pulled apart by forces invisible. Others convulsed, split open, turned inside-out, and were consumed - alive - by swarms of ravaging insects. Others, yet, twisted into broken abominations, with multiple new limbs protruding from their own stomachs, rear sides, and shoulders. Some others simply exploded spontaneously.

They died billions of times over. After perishing, the sufferers would regenerate. Their deaths became quicker, swifter, regeneration and total physical annihilation quickly coming to occur mere moments from one another.

" **NO**!"

* * *

In the distant cosmos, three stood beside one.

The time for action had come.

Shining brighter than any other celestial body in the entire multiverse, the Lifebringer parted the cosmos. Without bringing harm upon a single speck of cosmic matter, his vision fell upon the scene of butchery beyond butchery. His vision fell upon the blood-soaked Windsor Castle.

"Go, my Heralds. Go. Announce the Coming of Galactus."

Three departed from one, following their Lord's orders.

Of those three Heralds who travelled the cosmos at speeds incomprehensible, surging with immeasurable might, there was, at the front, a guiding, silver light for all to behold, the Silver Surfer. Defined musculature accented the metallic appearance of his stark naked form. Potent energies raged from within his eyes' sockets. The Surfer was mounted elegantly upon the eponymous, wide, lengthy board from which he derived his title.

Holding the middle ground was Thunderlord. A being of pure energy whose entire form consisted of physical, crackling lightning constituting not only his body but the long, curled locks of his hair. Enormous, reinforced plate armour upon which arcs of lightning criss-crossed seemed to mould his body into its humanoid shape. Thunderlord required no vehicle, and rode upon cosmic lightning.

At the rear was the Vector. An older, experienced, and physically-developed Frenda Seivelun from some other, doomed multiverse. She who had effectively won the 'superpower lottery', had lived – and nearly died – as her own universe's 'Accelerator'. She required no clothing, as her body's invulnerable layer of cosmic skin, brighter than an exploding star, obscured her most private aspects of her exceedingly curvy, feminine form.

"My only hope is that Galactus did not delay his judgement," the Surfer remarked, crestfallen.

"A stickler for tradition, as ever! Were I our Lord, I would descend upon the Earth now – without all of this Herald business – and crushed that impudent Beyond-Scum!" Exclaimed Thunderlord, his booming, boisterous voice shaking space itself.

"Basically, you both are forgetting what it means to be a Herald. Our place is never to question, only to act."

The Vector ultimately had the right of it. There was no denying that, as much as Thunderlord wished to push back and deny his fellow Herald's words.

Harmlessly, they burst through planet Earth's atmosphere, and descended upon its skies.

"HEY!" The Vector exclaimed, pointed in the general direction of the Far East. "I see Academy City from here! Basically, it's pretty nice to see it in one piece. The Academy City **I** come from got nuked a couple dozen times."

"Focus," chided the Silver Surfer. "Forget not our course, Vector."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Let us get to fighting! We'll accomplish our Herald matters, and then, I'm going to pound that Beyond-Scum's face in!"

Thunderlord, wielding the Power Cosmic seeded within him, summoned a thunderstorm so great that the entire world's skies were devoured by the arrival of darkened, pitch black clouds.

Three spoke as one.

"Denizens of the Earth! From the smallest bacteria to the greatest kings, lords, and gods! Heed now the words of the Heralds! The Coming of Galactus is nigh; but fear not! For Galactus is life, and life is Galactus!"

And every person in every corner of the globe heard the Heralds' words, no matter where they were, no matter what they might have been doing. Those who slept heard the Heralds' words in their dreams. Those who lived among the waking heard the Heralds' words as though they were spoken by an individual soul mere feet from them. Whether they were aboard an airplane, deep beneath the Earth's surface, or diving within the Earth's oceans, **all** heard the Heralds.

As did the Beyonder. As did Frank, the cast-off humanity of the Beyonder.

There was mass panic across the globe, then; but such was a price already paid.

Seated upon an immaculate throne made from the most precious of Earth's minerals, cushioned with a seat and backrest created from the most comfortable materials the planet had to offer, the Beyonder leaned back, rested either of his arms upon his throne's own extravagant arms, and sneered.

Windsor Castle truly belonged to the One from Beyond, now.

Those who had been entrapped within – be they tourists, housekeeping staff or the vigilant Knights of England– had gathered in the Castle's greatest, most extravagant central corridor, where the Beyonder sat upon his throne.

Directly next to that throne, crucified upon the enormous, jagged spikes which had pierced each of his body's vital organs some time ago, perpetually-bleeding – but never capable of running dry of lifeblood, as was the will of the Beyonder to constantly refill his veins with the life-giving substance – was Frank, the Beyonder's abandoned humanity.

Those who had been entrapped had been forced to bow. They each bowed so low that their posteriors were extended into the air, and their faces were pressed against the tilted flooring.

"Lowly peasants! Hear now the command of your King!" Bellowed the Beyonder. "My first order unto you is this! 'Windsor Castle' is no longer in existence. There is now only 'Beyonder Castle'."

The One from Beyond extended a hand outward.

"If I hear one of you worthless peasants ever utter the words 'Windsor Castle', ever again, you'll be executed. And I'll have your own families do the executing! Do we have an understanding?"

"YES, MY KING!"

All of those who had no means of escape from their bondage cried out as one, hoping only to please this seemingly omnipotent being, keep him at bay.

Ultimately, for all of his boasting – not to mention, all of the magical defences which had been put in place to protect Windsor Castle from a siege such as this, whether that siege might originate from the realm of science or the realm of magic – 'Beyonder Castle' was not adequately prepared for the arrival of three Heralds.

The great spires of the Castle collapsed upon themselves as the ceilings shattered. Formerly-ornate ceilings, decorated with priceless paintings and fanciful, extravagant fixtures, became in mere moments little more than collapsing, smoking rubble.

Ensuring that none entrapped within Windsor Castle's great corridor were harmed by the collapsing stonework, the Silver Surfer descended, coming to rest before the Beyonder's throne. In due time, he was joined by his fellow Heralds, the Vector and Thunderlord.

"Who **dares** lay siege to Beyonder Castle?! You three stooges out to consider yourselves lucky! Your King is in a forgiving mood, and, as such, I won't have you executed on the spot."

"Cram a sock in it, Beyond-Scum!" Thunderlord roared. "I'm gonna kick your ass from here to Xandar!"

"Basically, you're fucked. Ha~ det~ bra~!" The Vector fluffed her hair, and winked a sly, smug wink.

"Your cosmic tampering has reached its end, Beyonder," the Silver Surfer stated, clearly and plainly.

He threw his head back and laughed. The One from Beyond laughed, and laughed.

"This is RICH! So, you three stooges were sent on this suicide mission, were you? Your Lord doesn't value your lives much, does he?!"

An omniversal thundering, crashing from above with such force that all of eternity was shaken, to the ends of infinity – and even transcending it – denied the Beyonder's claim without speaking a single word.

Planet Earth was bathed in golden rays. From Europe to Africa, all diseases were cured. All wounds were healed. The damaged planet's ecosystems thrived once more. Extinct species returned to life, sprouting from the Earth itself.

Windsor Castle nearly bucked beneath the supreme power that had come to stand within its great corridor, having manipulated its own size to accommodate the relatively flimsy physical constraints of the planet itself.

He still yet stood twelve feet tall, towering over all.

"Incorrect, 'Beyonder'. The Lifebringer's children will not suffer you any longer. Adjuration is at hand. You and you alone bear the responsibility for this vast suffering with your trans-multiversal manipulations, efforts to childishly appease your own, personal boredom!"

Rising from his throne, the One from Beyond snarled.

"You think I fear you, Goldilocks?!"

"You ought to."

The Beyonder and Galactus met; either of their arms extended outwards, the endless energy of an ever-expanding omniverse collided with infinite creative, life-giving power.

The two most powerful beings in all existence clashed.

Every singular being in every singular reality through every singular multiverse, no matter where in the vast, unquantifiable cosmos they might have been, felt the outerversal quaking of their conflict.

Time and space fluctuated. Dinosaurs walked alongside Roman Praetorians. Cold War nuclear-tipped missiles flew through prehistoric skies. Future citizens of the Earth walked in the present. Unidentifiable beings from other dimensions entered and exited the third.

Past. Present. Future. All overlapped; dimensions uncountable, unquantifiable and numberless crashed against one another like spatial tectonic plates grinding, causing outerversal shifts unlike any other.

"This planet is MINE! This universe is MINE! This MULTIVERSE IS MINE! You've no business here, Galan!"

"You are a selfish, **selfish** god without empathy. Without sympathy. Your casting off of your humanity has lead to a total lack of **any** redeeming qualities to even **consider** simply letting your tampering, and your manipulations of this reality to continue."

Windsor Castle had become a cosmic boxing ring.


	10. The Lifebringer VS The Beyonder

Time and space destabilized. The multiverse was breaking down; and similar chipping was beginning to affect the entire omniverse itself.

Why two omnipotent beings, now having come to trade incomprehensibly powerful blows on countless levels not merely above, but far beyond the physical had chosen planet Earth to make their respective last stands was a mystery which did, in truth, have answers; such answers were held solely by the combatants themselves.

"Idea!"

The Vector reflected crumbling wreckage crashing downward from above with her esper ability; she hadn't consciously decided to do so. Rather, her ability's potent automatic reflection had saved her the trouble.

"Basically, I'm going to try and get that less-weird-looking Beyonder free, to start."

Pointing in the direction of Galactus and the pure white, gleaming Beyonder, the Vector tilted her head to one side.

"Our Lord might need help. Basically, do what you can do back him up with the Power Cosmic."

There was no time to bicker; Thunderlord and the Silver Surfer merely nodded affirmatively, and darted into the fray. Thunderlord called great, chaining bolts of lightning from the heavens above to smite the Beyonder, and the Surfer manifested the Power Cosmic in the form of all-consuming, matter-evaporating beams to strike him.

Even if such 'attacks' – if they could rightly be called that, given that they did nothing – were little more than meager distractions, they were distractions which served to irritate the Beyonder to no end.

If he dared to take his attention away from his foe for even a moment's time, he could lose everything.

**"HEH HAH! Eh heh heh ha ha ha ha HA! YES! YES! YES! This is what I want from you! This is what I've CRAVED! An equal to my divinity!"**

**"Your godhood is a false one, Beyonder. And, as all false gods do, you shall fall. You shall be cast down. So speaks Galactus."**

The clashing of omnipotents continued; and yet again every creature, in every dimension, in every universe experienced the multiversal tremors born of their exchange.

"You were really done in good, weren't you?" The Vector pressed her thin, petite hands to either of the spikes which were driven through Frank's vital organs, shattering them instantly by manipulating their vectors in such a way that lead to total, molecular disintegration. "Basically, your wounds should heal right back up, anyways. Lord Galactus' presence saved your worthless life."

That much was true; Frank's horrific wounds, wounds that would have otherwise been fatal if the will of the Beyonder had not kept him alive artificially, were gone. As if they'd never been there at all.

The multiverse shook, and the Vector was left barely able to stabilize her own body, let alone Frank's. He couldn't even stand; he merely slumped to the floor, and struggled to hold himself up with what strength his violently shuddering arms could manage.

"I have nothing! I can't even stand! The Beyond Realm was everything to me – literally! Without it, I'm about as capable as a newborn! I probably couldn't run down a city block without becoming dangerously winded!"

The skies above shattered like glass. Innumerable dimensions were destroyed utterly, then reborn in less than a singular microsecond after their destruction. Planets died, and then were reborn. Universes collapsed, and then expanded once again.

"Old Whitey won't go willingly, will he?"

"No! Absolutely not! The Beyond Realm has _rejected_ me!"

Frank managed to rise to his knees. His legs seemed to have the consistency of jelly, so wobbly were they.

"Galactus and this… This emanation of me could be locked in battle forever! Neither of them are giving an inch! In fact, they're almost equally matched! It's unbelievable…"

It was then that he noticed something.

Galactus, the Lifebringer, was not fighting at all.

The Beyonder, so lost in his own rage and natural, innate desire for total domination was he, that he himself hadn't even taken notice of it yet. The Beyonder's own omniversal cosmic matter was being pulled from him. It drifted into the shattered skies in colossal, glimmering white plumes.

"… Yeah! That could work!"

"Eh? Basically, what's the idea, mop-top?"

Struggling to approach her, Frank's wobbly, unsteady legs carried him as best as they could. Several times he nearly collapsed back to his knees, but, ultimately, his journey was some success. Even if that 'journey' had consisted of travelling some few, mere feet.

"See?! My Beyond Realm's power is being forced out of this multiverse! Galactus isn't fighting my Beyond Realm; he's _moving_ it! Bit by bit!"

The Beyonder was pushed back, some few inches. His undefined, toeless bare feet skidded against the shattered, ornately-designed flooring of Windsor Castle beneath him.

**"NO! NO! I am the Beyonder! I am SUPREME! I AM…"**

**"You are BEATEN. So speaks Galactus."**

The Beyonder destabilized. His semi-physical manifestation shattered, and the loosed powers of the Beyond Realm emerged from the crackling, pure white ruins of a body destroyed. The Lifebringer strained harder than he ever had before in the innumerable eons of his existence to contain it; to prevent the raw, chaotic energies of an entirely separate, infinitely-expanding omniverse from destroying everything in what could quickly devolve into a ceaseless warpath.

As if fleeing in fear, the power of the Beyond Realm, infinite and unquantifiable, re-entered Frank.

All of existence shook as all living beings no matter how great or how small were affected to the ends of infinity by the outerversal rumbling.

This reunification of raw power and a developed humanity brought the short-lived conflict to an end; and Frank welcomed the return of omnipotence.

All eyes turned onto him. He caught the omnipotent gaze of the Lifebringer, and he shrunk from it.

Perhaps, for the first time, the One from Beyond experienced true vulnerability.

"They're heroes!"

The joyous cries of those who had lived through a conflict between omnipotent, cosmic beings from beyond their own multiverse – a concept the vast majority of those in attendance didn't even comprehend, or truly know of – rang out through the broken, collapsing Windsor Castle.

"The golden giant saved all of England!"

"And those three freaks, too! Are they from Academy City?!"

The Lifebringer willed it, and Windsor Castle was restored. Those who had perished returned to life. Those who had been mercilessly tortured by the loose power of the Beyond Realm, outside of the Castle were healed and freed from their bondage, their bodies and minds restored.

As if to answer the Lifebringer's call, majestic, colourful fields of flowers sprouted from the earth surrounding Windsor Castle. No seeds had been planted, no soil tended. Life had come from nothing, heeding the Lifebringer's presence.

"It is not yet over."

That even caught the three Heralds off-guard.

"Galactus, what do you mean?"

"You're ruddy right it ain't over! This Beyond-Scum is still in for a penalty!"

"Basically… I think this might just be the beginning."

Mighty Galactus approached the Beyonder, who stood with his shoulders slumped, and his gaze cast towards the floor beneath him. It was the only direction he could will himself to look in, so great was his shame. So great was the loathing he held for himself, and for his lack of cosmic stability.

"Beyonder. You _will_ return to the totality of your Beyond Realm, at once. So long as you exist within it, this multiverse is in grave peril. So speaks Galactus. Such is the judgment of the Tribunal on High."

Peering up for the first time in some few minutes, the Beyonder folded his arms across his chest, and produced a long, drawn-out sigh. All colour seemed to have drained from his face, and a deep, curved frown weighed down upon his expression.

"Galan! You were more than a match for me… Or, maybe more accurately, my power! Whatever it is that happened to you since we last met in that _other_ multiverse, you're much different!"

"It has been many eons since I have been called by that name. Who are you to speak it, Beyonder?"

"Why? Why do you still yet answer to the Living Tribunal?!"

"Galactus is a conceptual aspect of cosmic order. Your mind is young. Inexperienced. You will learn for yourself, in time. Just as these human mortals age, so shall you."

Galactus stood mere inches from the Beyonder. Dropping to one knee, the omnipotent, cosmic being placed an enormous, gauntleted hand upon his fellow omnipotent's shoulder. Glowing, golden eyes without irises or pupils peered into natural, humanlike eyes.

"Regardless, your meagre, mortal-inspired distractions prove futile as ever. Even Galactus' patience runs thin. Your continued presence within this multiverse will not be tolerated. If I must drag you to your totality, I shall."

The One from Beyond threw his arms into the air, exasperated.

"I'll… I'll go willingly. On one condition!"

" **This matter is unconditional**!"

The Lifebringer, poised to strike, garnered the apologies of the Beyonder.

"Mighty Galan, stay your hand! I beg of you! I see the error of my ways, now. The moment I arrived in this multiverse, I should have left! Realized what would come of it!"

"A poignant observation, though delayed. Your nascent understanding of this is a greater reflection of your truth. Omnipotent, you are not. Perhaps only to the fundamentally limited minds of mortals."

"I wanted to be a hero! I wanted to save this multiverse – and this universe, specifically, from itself, from the dark road I saw it descending on! Surely you can admit my intentions themselves were not purely selfish!"

The One from Beyond couldn't help but chuckle at his own words. He'd seen past, present, and future unfold before his very eyes, out from the confines of his own mind.

"… I guess I was late to the party."

He stiffened his upper lip, and placed either of his hands, clenched into reddened fists, upon his hips.

"This universe already has a hero, and I met him myself! I'll just leave the heroics to him. I'm sure my favourite will handle things, no problem. In the futures I averted, he handled himself just fine!"

Raising a single finger, the Beyonder tensed.

"But…"

"Act, and you will reignite our conflict anew!"

The Lifebringer and his Heralds were poised to continue that which the Beyonder had started.

"HOLD IT! I'm just… JUST LISTEN TO ME! What I'm going to do won't alter the multiversal balance in any way! I promise! It's me, Frank! I'm in control, here! Not the Beyond Realm!"

"Hold, my Heralds."

Mighty Galactus, a conceptual entity aware of all things in this reality, knew well enough what the Beyonder had just done. The Heralds, imbued with the Power Cosmic and blessed with awareness beyond awareness, were too privy to the act which had just been performed.

From nothingness, a small spider – smaller than the tip of a pencil – had formed beneath the folded, well-kept bed sheets of a certain spikey-haired high school boy, a boy as ordinary as any high schooler who could be found anywhere.

The tiny little arachnid was irradiated.

"It's over."

The Beyonder held his head high, and blinked away the warm, wet tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

"Time for me to go."

The One from Beyond dissipated, leaving behind a swirling plume of pure white cosmic matter, which itself soon faded from existence, leaving not a trace of the one who had nearly brought this entire multiverse to its knees.

Having sensed the departure of the Beyonder, Galactus gestured to his three Heralds.

"My Heralds. Let us depart from this reality."

Thunderlord grumbled, and repeatedly stomped his plated foot against the flooring of Windsor Castle. Arcs of electricity leapt from his body, occasionally causing the Castle's lights to flicker.

"I can't believe I was denied my chance to beat that Beyond-Scum black and blue!"

Having no complaints of his own to voice, the Silver Surfer nodded obediently, and, boarding his cosmic craft once more, soon zipped to the side of his Lord.

The Vector seemed lost in her own thoughts. Arms crossed beneath her bosom, her smoothed, and golden face was one of contemplation.

"Vector, my Herald, the time has come for us to depart. Come along."

"… Basically, I don't think I will."

Several sets of eyebrows – be their physical or energy-based – raised at that. The Lifebringer's own obscured brows were not among those that represented a physical manifestation of surprise.

"This universe has some sentimental value to you, my Herald."

"Right. I only got to see Academy City for a few seconds, before all of this craziness popped off. Seeing it like that, pristine, prim and proper… It made me feel a certain way. I don't have to explain myself to _you,_ do I, Lord? Basically… Even if this isn't **my** Academy City, or **my** Earth, I feel at home."

She turned, locks of hair as golden as her own skin flowing elegantly behind her, falling nearly to her posterior.

"The Power Cosmic inside me will always lead me back to you, Lord. I won't get lost. Might I just stay for some short time?"

To her surprise, Galactus was before her. How he'd closed the distance between them was simply another mystery to her. Much of her 'Lord's' existence was a mystery to her, in fact. His gargantuan finger, as gentle as a father's loving touched for his most beloved daughter, parted the Vector's bangs.

"My Herald, I truly am sorry. I **cannot** allow it."

There was nothing else to do, then.

"… Basically, what if I decide to no longer be your Herald?"

The Silver Surfer no longer stood at the side of the Lifebringer. Instead, mounted upon his eponymous craft, he took to the side of his fellow Herald. His own eyes' empty sockets, virtually bleeding Power Cosmic, met with those of Galactus.

"You have many Heralds, Galactus. Surely, the Vector's continued presence here would not alter any important temporal trajectories."

Thunderlord took to his fellow Herald's side, as well.

"She's lookun' like she's set to cry, Lord. Give the girl a break, wouldja?"

Fearing another cosmic confrontation, those who'd remained within Windsor Castle fled. Confused, terrified, left feeling utterly powerless as forces beyond their comprehension acted of their own accords, whatever those accords might have been.

"Release from yourself, then, the Power Cosmic. Return to your Lord that which is rightfully mine."

And Frenda Seivelun - no longer the Vector - did just that. She bit into her lower lip, until, were she a lesser being, it would have begun to bleed. Frenda Seivelun focused all of her efforts, shut her eyelids tightly, and growled beneath her breath.

The Power Cosmic flowed from her, invisible, scentless, though its energy-streams altered the very fundamental building blocks of reality within its path.

"Basically... This is it."

"You are no slave, and so, you have been freed. Know, however, that you have made your choice, little one. Now, you must live with it."

With that, the Lifebringer willed his Heralds and himself out from this multiverse, back through that very wormhole within the Magic Gods' Hidden World; Frenda Seivelun, warped through time, space and several dimensions by the omnipotent Lifebringer, found herself seated elegantly upon a metallic bench within school district twenty-one's Nature Park, fully clothed. No longer was her skin golden; it was pale, pasty, as if it hadn't been kissed by even a single ray of sunlight in years. Her wide eyes, complete with proper, human eyeballs, sky blue. All that could be described as 'golden' upon her was her long, flowing hair.

Staring down at her own two, perfectly human hands, Frenda felt little, warm teardrops begin to drip downward, over the contours of her cheeks.

_"I'm home..."_

* * *

Having regrouped, there was little left to do but attempt to wait it out, and hope for the best.

St. George's Cathedral lay in ruins. A crumbling mess of brickwork and ornately-designed spires. Nothing within had survived, and the structural integrity of the Cathedral was surely all but nonexistent. No magical defences, regardless of whatever potency they might have been built with when the spellwork itself was laid, could have been enough to protect the Cathedral from the incomprehensible power of the Beyond.

Though men were not usually welcomed within the hallowed halls of Neccessarius' Women's Dormitory, exceptions had been made, purely on the apparent whims of the Anglican Church's Archbishop.

"… We're almost all accounted for."

Tatemiya Saiji, the Substitute Pontiff of the Amakusa Remix-Style of Church, breathed a heavy sigh.

Almost.

There were those who had been lost.

It weighed heavily upon his shoulders, yanking him downward on an emotional level. Perhaps it was the darkened aura that enshrouded his body that inspired his fellow Amakusa adherent, Itsuwa, to approach him, and place either of her hands upon his broad shoulders.

Shoulder-length, dark purple hair, styled into a bob cut with short fringes accentuated her wide, curious-looking dark-coloured eyes. A tight-fitting, pink tank top clung to her upper body, and equally tight-fitting, white pants which cut off at her knees.

She was frazzled. He was no better. Tall, mostly of skin and bones, his exceedingly loose-fitting white shirt, with its slanted, red cross had become reddened in other areas. The blood was not his, and it had splattered, too, upon his loose-fitting, baggy jeans. He had no way of knowing it, but even his tall, messy black hair had, too, been stained with the blood of utterly destroyed Amakusa adherents.

"Tatemiya-san…"

"Why won't the Priestess answer our calls?!"

He was ready to punch a hole through a wall.

Of course, he had no way of knowing it; but Kanzaki Kaori – 'Priestess' and Supreme Pontiff of the Amakusa – and her partner, Stiyl Magnus, were already eleven hours into a twelve-hour flight from England to Academy City.

"What are we even supposed to do?! Sit here, like waiting ducks?! I want REVENGE!"

Itsuwa swallowed, hard.

" _I've never seen him like this in my life… Priestess-sama, where are you…? Please… Help us…"_

Laura Stuart had decided to leave the Amakusa Remix-Style of Church to their devices some time ago. Though her abode within St. George's Cathedral had been reduced to mere atoms by the absurd powers of that white-clad stranger to this reality, she prided herself in her capacity to simply make do.

An empty dorm within the Neccessarius Women's Dormitory would suit her needs, for the time being. Soundproof and magically protected, she had little to fear here, especially with _that_ overwhelming, omnipotent presence seemingly having been ejected from the multiverse, taking that shimmering, glowing golden giant with him.

Clutched between her fingers was a crude, torn-off piece of paper, with several runic inscriptions written upon its smoothed surfaces.

" _My Backstabbing Blade. I would inquire once again, just how is Academy City handling the present crisis?"_

" _Terribly. Can't get solid leads because many of the Board of Directors' individual members have abandoned their positions in fear of a total state-wide collapse. Only two are still kickin' around."_

" _Wonderful~!"_

Her cheery tone sent a chill rushing down the spine of her double-agent.

" _What would you have me do, Archbishop?"_

" _I do recall you making me aware of a certain document – or, was it, documents? Silly me~! – Which are of considerable importance to Academy City's ruling parties? Was it… "The Parameter List"? I simply can't seem to catch it on the tip of my tongue. Nope~!"_

His heart leapt into his throat, and he nearly choked on it. Was she really suggesting what she was suggesting? Were they like-minded in this situation? No. It couldn't possibly be what he thought it was. Even for **her** , that would be going too far.

" _Oh~, my Backstabbing Blade… My, loyal, loyal little servant~… Would you be so kind as to inform the espers of Academy City about those documents for me? Hm?"_

If he didn't know better, Motoharu would have sworn that his heart simply stopped beating altogether.

If he refused, what would happen? If he, Tsuchimikado Motoharu, were to pull up his britches and try to save thousands upon thousands of lives, what would come of him? What would come of his beloved little sister?

The Backstabbing Blade was presented with a choice. One from which he couldn't so easily walk away. Concluding upon a single decision wasn't as easily accomplished, either.

He took in a long, deep breath. Held it for several seconds, feeling his heartbeat quicken.

Then, he loosed it, permitting carbon dioxide to flee his lungs. Motoharu analyzed every movement his body made, paid attention to the intricacies of his biological functions, maybe for the first time in his life.

Anything was better than facing down the ugly ultimatum he'd been presented with.

"… _It should be relatively easy to conveniently dump the contents of the Parameter List onto the dark web, with the Board of Directors in shambles, and the Superintendent gone, Archbishop. I'll need to bring some hired muscle aboard, but I can get it done…"_

" _You never fail to please, my Backstabbing Blade~! Tata for now!"_

" _I never do, do I? Maybe, this time, I should have."_

The smiling visage of Tsuchimikado Maika which briefly intruded upon the vision of his mind's eye was enough to convince him, albeit temporarily, that he'd done the right thing. Perhaps not for the espers of Academy City, but, certainly for the one person who mattered most to him.

* * *

The girl was still trying to get her head wrapped around all of this madness.

"Magic Gods"?

"Phases"?

All she knew was that this other, golden-haired girl with that odd eye patch obscuring her right eye was a terrorist. A terrorist wanted all over the globe. The Anti-GREMLIN Alliance, still assembled, hadn't retracted its vast bounty on this terrorist's head.

She was still the enemy of the entire world.

"You… IDIOT. What have you gotten yourself into?"

The Railgun sighed. It was a lengthy, exasperated sigh. What would she do with him? What _was_ there to do with him? This was a part of him. Running off to save people who were in trouble. He'd been doing it for as long as she'd known him.

She'd been one of those people he'd saved. Herself and nearly ten thousand others. Her Sisters.

He extended his right arm outwards, protectively ensuring the former Magic God, Othinus remained firmly behind it.

"I already fought off someone else who wanted to hurt Othi-chan. You're my friend, biribiri, and you always will be; but I'll fight you if I have to. I'll protect this girl's smile no matter what!"

"I'm not going to fight with you."

There wasn't any other choice, was there?

"I… I can't fight with you. You idiot."

She closed the distance between herself and that spikey-haired fool; then took his hand in her own. It was warm, strong. His skin was thick and tough.

"I'm going to stand by your side forever and ever."

That caught Kamijou off-guard. What was he supposed to do? Pull away? Recoil? He wanted to. He could feel the blood rising into his cheeks, forming a red-hot blush within his cheeks.

He could also feel a particularly dark aura emanating from behind him. He recognized it instantly as belonging to his silver-haired charge. Quietly, Index grumbled to herself, fangs exposed.

"B-Biribiri…?"

"Stop calling me that, first things first! You know my name, and it's Misaka Mikoto."

"Augh! Alright, yeah, whatever MISAKA! I don't know what your deal with 'biribiri' is…"

"Second of all, if what you said about that boorish girl attacking you is true, she's probably going to come back."

Realizing only then that she still had _that idiot_ 's had clutched in her own, Mikoto pulled away, and blushed furiously.

"I-I'll be staying with you for the foreseeable future, then!"

"W-WHAT?!"

"If that girl comes back, I'm going to protect you! What do you think I'd be hanging around with **you** for, you idiot?"

He could've fallen to his knees right there and then. Three girls sharing his abode with him?! As if Index and Othinus weren't enough, now he'd be dealing with the Railgun; telling her "no" or attempting to scheme his way out of this development simply weren't valid options.

" _Such… Misfortune…"_

* * *

Lessar's agility had served her well; the necessity of fleeing from the wrath of an angry shopkeeper in Academy City's seventh school district was one which couldn't have afforded any slip-ups.

" _Sheesh! Why did that geezer get so peeved over a pack of paper? It's not like I was trying to steal money from his register…"_

A writing utensil wouldn't be necessary. Instead, Lessar relied upon the sharpened, pointed tip of her Spiritual Item, shaped not unlike the tail of a dragon, which protruded from beneath her skirt to act as her stylus.

Dipping it into the softened, moist surface of some mud nearby a bench in one of the school district's miniature parks, the magician girl scribbled the runes she'd require to construct a magical communications device. The mud, too, was soft and malleable enough to act as an easel for crude, simplistic drawings; the formations of a Magic Circle.

Academy City's state-wide curfew served her well. There were no pesky students wandering about to potentially happen upon her and inquire as to what she was getting up to. Just as she liked it.

Upon completing her communications device, Lessar clutched the torn-off piece of paper between her index finger and thumb.

" _Bayloupe. What's there to report?"_

" _Floris here. Lessar? Are you still in Academy City?"_

" _L-Lancis…"_

" _You three,_ _ **I found**_ _ **her**_ _!_ _I found GREMLIN's leader!_ You're _not going to believe just where."_

* * *

At the very least, Othinus' culinary skills hadn't dulled during her depowering, from Magic God to mere, powerless human, no stronger than the average middle school girl. Her knowledge of Asian dishes was meager at best; but when supplied with a recipe courtesy of Kamijou Touma, she seemed to know what to do.

The fact that the former Magic God's meal settled so gently within his full belly was proof of her capabilities. Touma, satisfied for the first time in a long time, finally crawled into his very own bed.

It was an odd sensation. The softness of the sheets, their comforting warmth, was a far cry from the bathtub Touma slept in for months. Though, in a way, he'd adjusted to sleeping in the bathtub, and hadn't particularly come to loathe it, **this** was something else.

He'd almost forgotten how good it felt to be embraced by bedding.

The one matter which kept him from immediately falling into slumber was the little silver-haired nun who slept quietly beside him, her arms bound tightly around his upper chest. The fact that she'd accepted this proposal at all was startling; the fact that she had accepted this proposal so quickly, and without argument, was concerning.

"Touuummmmaaaaaaaa…"

Her grip tightened upon him; the little silver-haired nun nuzzled herself closer.

" _I've never slept with a girl like this before. Especially not Index… What do I even_ _ **do**_ _? Such misfortune. Oh well. I guess things could be worse. It could be biribiri. At least Index probably won't murder me."_

The thought sent a surge of excitement through Kamijou, and it left him reeling from his own perverse thoughts. Misaka Mikoto wasn't traditionally attractive. She wasn't overtly feminine, like another level three Tokiwadai esper girl he knew. She was brash, abrasive, aggressive and terrifying, altogether.

But there was some aspect of him that wanted her. Some animal part of Kamijou's hormone-addled, teenaged brain that desired her.

" _N-NOOOO! Nope, nope! Not right now! Drop those thoughts Kamijou-san, or you're likely to bring MORE misfortune onto yourself!"_

Speaking of which, Kamijou Touma then experienced a short, if extraordinarily painful jab. It felt as if he'd been pricked with the sharpened tip of a needle.

He threw down the sheets, startling into the world of the waking the little nun cuddled up to him. Touma just barely caught a glimpse of the tiny, pitter-pattering miniature arachnid that was crawling away from a reddening, sore-looking wound upon his leg.

"OUCH! That HURTS! AUGH, it STINGS! SUCH MISFORTUNE! SOMETHING **BIT ME!** Stupid bug! This Kamijou-san can't EVER CATCH A BREAK! SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCH MISFORTUUUUUUUUUUNE!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, dear friends and readers. It's I, your author. I'm leaving this note here to inform you that with the closing out of A Certain Secret War's Tenth Chapter, the closing of what I'll call "Book One" is also upon us.
> 
> Wow, I actually managed to complete a story on here! Sort of. Allow me to explain.
> 
> "Book Two" will commence once I've gathered my thoughts and laid out a proper timeline of events to adapt content from. It could take me some time to do so; given obligations I have regarding my academic life and work life.
> 
> "Book Two" will focus much less on the Beyonder, or any other cosmic, abstract entities from the Marvel Comics reality for that matter, and focus much more on how this alternate universe – and the multiverse at large – has been affected by the Beyonder's actions. More importantly, "Book Two" will continue where "Book One" has left off, tying up loose ends and such. Specifically, Saten Ruiko, Academy City's newest level five esper will be given the spotlight for some time!
> 
> Thank you very much for your time, your thoughts, and your feedback. A Certain Secret War will resume production once again in the near-future.
> 
> \- Brosephg


End file.
